Two new Fox polls published yesterday are stark warnings for Donald Trump. And Fox put those warnings right in the headlines: “FBiden leads Trump in battleground Pennsylvania” and “Biden tops Trump in Michigan, where Gov. Whitmer is more popular than president.”
Often, Fox buries bad news for Trump or outright distorts the findings when it reports on its polling. The polling, itself, is considered top notch, though. (For what it’s worth, I believe that is so Fox knows how to shape its messaging.)
Whatever the reason, the fact that Fox is trumpeting the news in its headlines is startling. So are the actual results.
The Pennslyvania article is full of ominous signs for Trump. Here are a few samples:
Biden is preferred over Trump by 8 percentage points (50-42 percent), according to a Fox News Poll of Pennsylvania registered voters. That is slightly larger than the poll’s margin of sampling error. Eight percent are undecided.
…
Thirteen percent of voters who approve of Trump’s job performance are not currently supporting his re-election, and either back Biden (7 percent), won’t vote (1 percent), or are undecided (5 percent). That makes his 42 percent share of the vote lower than his 47 percent approval rating.
There’s this, too:
Monday, amid protests against Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home order, the governor extended the mandate through May 8. The Republican-led state legislature is pushing to reopen things more quickly.
Yet nearly two-thirds of Pennsylvania voters, 64 percent, want to wait to reopen the economy, even if it extends the economic crisis.
Even those “very” concerned about suffering economic hardship because of the virus prefer waiting (64 percent) over opening the economy (24 percent).
The Michigan article will not likely console any Trumpers. There, Biden leads by eight, too.
Majorities of Michigan voters are concerned about coronavirus, think President Trump was too slow reacting to it, and favor waiting to reopen the economy. That contributes to Joe Biden leading the presidential race in a Fox News Poll of Michigan registered voters released Wednesday.
There's a slight bit of good news for Gretchen Whitmer-haters:
When Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is included as Biden’s vice presidential running mate, the race narrows a touch to a 6-point advantage against Trump and Vice President Mike Pence (49-43 percent, just within the error margin).
But then:
Whitmer is popular: 63 percent of voters approve of her job performance and 58 percent have a positive opinion of her personally.
On handling coronavirus, Whitmer’s job approval is 19 points higher than Trump’s (64 percent vs. 45 percent).
And this:
A majority, 61 percent, would rather wait to loosen restrictions, even if it prolongs the economic crisis. That’s far more than the 24 percent who want to open the economy sooner, even if it means the public health crisis lasts longer.
Can’t you just see Trump’s tiny Twitter fingers a-twitching once he gets wind of this?
Sad!
(Trump caricature by DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license)