Fox News Poll: Joe Biden’s Lead over Donald Trump Drops Two Points

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s lead in the national popular vote among likely voters over President Donald Trump has dropped by two points in one month, according to a Fox News Poll released on Sunday.

Biden now leads Trump by a margin of just five points, 51 percent to 46 percent, down from the seven point lead he had in the same Fox News Poll released one month ago.

The poll of 1,191 likely voters was conducted between September 7 and September 10 and has a margin of error of 2.5 percent.

The latest results show a continued slide in support for Biden. In June, the Fox News Poll reported that the former vice president had a 12 point lead over Trump, 50 percent to 38 percent. In the intervening three months, that lead has been cut by more than half to just five points.

Notably, 51 percent of poll respondents said their “best guess — as of today” is that “Donald Trump will be re-elected president,” as opposed to 43 percent who said their best guess is he will not be re-elected, a margin of eight points in favor of the president.

This represents a significant increase in voter expectations about the likelihood of Trump winning re-election compared to the last time the Fox News Poll asked this question in July, when 45 percent of poll respondents said their best guess was the president would be re-elected, while 45 percent said their best guess was he would not be re-elected.

The Poll also found:

• 48 percent of poll respondents approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president, while 51 percent disapprove, an eight point improvement for the president from the Fox News Poll in June, when 44 percent approved of the the job the president is doing, while 55 percent disapproved.
• 48 percent of poll respondents said “the unrest happening in New York, Kenosha, Portland, and other places” was best described as riots, while 40 percent said they were best described as protests.
• 55 percent of poll respondents were confident mail-in ballots will be received and counted accurately, while 43 percent were not confident.
• 60 percent of poll respondents said the coronavirus was under control either “completely” (11 percent), “mostly” (19 percent),  or “somewhat” 30 percent, while 40 percent said it was “not at all” under control.

In a curiously phrased question, given the reporting on the ideological perspective of those who have engaged in violence, the Fox News Poll asked “When violence breaks out at these events, who do you think is more often to blame, left wing radicals or right wing radicals?”

Thirty-nine percent of poll respondents said left wing radicals, 33 percent said right wing radicals, and nine percent said both.