U.S. political polls are increasingly showing that Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s performance in office, and that he is trailing in his bid for another four-year term in the White House against former Vice President Joe Biden.
In the latest poll Monday, CNN said voters it surveyed last week disapproved of Trump’s handling of the presidency by a 57%-38% margin, and losing to Biden by a 55%-41% edge five months ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3.
Trump derided the CNN poll in a tweet, contending the poll was “as fake as their reporting.” Trump said he had the “same numbers, and worse, against Crooked Hillary,” his derisive moniker for Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. secretary of state he defeated for the presidency in 2016.
Trump often touts his high standing among Republican voters, but Democrats are equally opposed to his presidency, polling shows. Meanwhile, the CNN poll showed 52% of independent voters say they favor Biden for the presidency versus 41% for Trump.
Trump’s low approval rating comes as voters assess his handling of the coronavirus pandemic over the past three months and more immediately, the nationwide protests in the past two weeks against the death of a black man, George Floyd, held in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
CNN said Trump’s approval rating had fallen seven points in the past month and was now the worst he had recorded since January 2019. The news network said Trump’s 38% approval rating was similar to two former U.S. presidents — Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992 — when they both lost bids for second terms.
The CNN poll said the effect of the protests against Floyd’s death on the American electorate is significant, with voters saying race relations in the U.S. are now as important a campaign issue as the economy and health care.
Those polled said they think Biden would handle race relations in the U.S. better than Trump by a 63%-31% margin. Black voters favored Biden’s handling of race relations by an overwhelming 91%-4% edge.
Biden also outdistanced Trump in handling the coronavirus pandemic, 55% to 41%, while voters favored Trump in overseeing the economy by 51% to 46%.
National polls in the U.S. have consistently shown Biden ahead of Trump, all 40 of them in May and another nine so far in June.
The Real Clear Politics website aggregation of polls has Biden ahead 49.9% to 42.1%. Its collection of recent polls shows voters disapproving of Trump’s presidency 54.2% to 42.8%.