Fox News tried to bring out the good news for Donald Trump in its latest polling results but there was almost nothing to work with.
The spinning began right in the headline of the article reporting on the poll: “Fox News Poll: Biden widens lead over Trump; Republicans enthusiastic, but fear motivates Dems.”
The article opened with these two paragraphs:
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden continues to lead President Donald Trump in the race for the White House, as majorities say racism, unemployment, and coronavirus pose a major threat to the stability of the country, according to the latest Fox News Poll.
Biden supporters are far more likely to say fear that Trump might win is behind their vote choice (63 percent) than to say it is enthusiasm for Biden (31 percent). The opposite is true among those backing Trump, as almost twice as many of his supporters say enthusiasm is the motivation (62 percent) rather than fear Biden could win (33 percent).
I’m sure it’s true that Republicans are more enthusiastic about Trump than Democrats are about Biden. But that bit seems a lot less important than say, this news, which came three paragraphs later, even though Fox warned that fear could be a big motivating factor for voting:
In the head-to-head matchup, the poll finds Biden leads Trump by a 50-38 percent margin. That 12-point advantage is statistically significant, and up from Biden’s 8-point lead last month (48-40 percent).
In fact, the article was full of bad news for Trump. Biden is better liked, wins by 11 points with those who are “extremely interested” in the election, and his favorability ratings are a net positive where as Trump’s are a net negative.
If you click through to the poll results, you will find that the only issue on which voters think Trump gets a net positive approval rating is the economy and even that is within the margin of error (49-46). On health care, voters disapprove 53-39 and on race relations they disapprove 61-32. There seems to be another issue that is being embargoed.
Trump is already having a bad day. This will almost certainly make it worse.
(Trump caricature by DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license)
