WASHINGTON — For a week now, Democrats have worried about the aftermath of the Jacob Blake shooting, about President Trump focusing his campaign on “law and order” and about Trump’s own visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Turns out, it should have been Republicans who were worried.
Yesterday brought us a Poll-a-palooza of survey numbers that not only showed Joe Biden ahead of Trump nationally and in the key battleground states, but they also showed Trump appearing to lose the law/order/safety debate.
A Quinnipiac poll found half of likely voters nationwide — 50 percent — saying Trump as president made them feel less safe, versus 35 percent who said he made them feel safer.
By contrast, 42 percent said Biden made them feel safer, versus 40 percent less safe.
A CNN poll found Biden leading — by a 51 percent to 46 percent margin — on who would better keep Americans safe from harm. (It also had him leading on better handling racial inequality by 18 points).
Maybe most revealing of all, Quinnipiac found 58 percent of likely voters saying the country is WORSE off today than it was four years ago.
And as for Wisconsin, not only did a Fox News poll — conducted after the conventions and Kenosha — show Biden ahead in the state by 8 points among likely voters, it also found him leading Trump by 5 points on which candidate would do a better job on policing and crime, 47 percent to 42 percent.
“Law and order” might be a better issue for Trump than the coronavirus.
But it isn’t a winning issue for him.
That said, a focus group of mostly Obama-Trump voters in Oshkosh, Wis., that Axios covered found voices who believe that Biden cares more about the protesters than people like them.
But of those Obama-Trump voters is now supporting Biden, and Trump can’t afford any erosion from 2016 given his narrow win in the state four years ago.
Breaking down all the recent polls
As for all of the high-quality 2020 horserace polls we saw yesterday, here they are all in one place:
- Grinnell College (national); Biden 49 percent, Trump 41 percent among likely voters.
- USA Today/Suffolk (national): Biden 50 percent, Trump 43 percent among registered voters.
- Quinnipiac (national): Biden 52 percent, Trump 42 percent among likely voters.
- CNN (national): Biden 51 percent, Trump 43 percent among registered voters.
- Monmouth (Pennsylvania): Biden 49 percent, Trump 46 percent among likely voters; Biden 49 percent, Trump 45 percent among registered voters.
- Fox News (Arizona): Biden 49 percent, Trump 40 percent among likely voters.
- Fox News (North Carolina): Biden 50 percent, Trump 46 percent among likely voters.
- Fox News (Wisconsin): Biden 50 percent, Trump 42 percent among likely voters
And think about it: All of those polls came after the GOP convention.
Tweet of the day
Data Download: The (other) numbers you need to know today
6,133,197: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (That’s 32,877 more than Wednesday morning.)
186,950: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far. (That’s 1,041 more than Wednesday morning.)
79.1 million: The number of coronavirus tests that have been administered in the United States so far, according to researchers at The COVID Tracking Project.
