Back in 2016, Donald Trump dominated the swing states, helping him secure more votes from the electoral college. However, recent polls have shown that former vice president Joe Biden may be giving him a run for his money because of his 13-point lead.
Politico reports the presumptive Democratic nominee leads by 13 percentage points in a poll in Pennsylvania, one of the battleground states that candidates must be able to win over during the elections. The poll from Monmouth University showed Biden’s lead to Trump at 53 to 40 percent. For reference, Trump only won by less than one percentage point in Pennsylvania to Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Biden is zeroing on the battleground states as of late, with his campaign’s headquarters located in Philadelphia, while he continues to ease into making more public appearances since the lockdown from the pandemic. The former vice president has since spoken in towns within Pennsylvania, Darby, Lancaster, and Dunmore.
To add to that, Joe Biden has garnered more support from the Democrats in Pennsylvania at 93 percent, while Trump garnered 84 percent of support from Republicans. Among independent voters, the former vice president also maintains a lead over Trump by 21 percentage points at 54 to 33 percent. In counties where candidates are usually head to head in the polling numbers, Biden also overtakes Trump at 54 to 35 percent.
Demographics-wise, the former vice president also maintains a lead on Trump amongst voters under 50 at 60 to 29 percent as well as 65 and older at 52 to 42 percent. However, Trump still leads in the white voters that are not college graduates t 55 to 39 percent, and voters within 50 to 64 years old at 56 to 43 percent. Among people of color, Asian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanics, Biden overtakes Trump at 76 to 16 percent.
Although Biden is scoring higher in the public opinion polls and surveys, Trump and the GOP still outdo the Democrats in terms of campaign funds. However, CNN reports that the big Democrat donors have reached out to back the former vice president in order to narrow the cash gap between the two parties.
Donors from both Hollywood and Wall Street have chipped in, and the Biden campaign announced they had accumulated $242 million. The Trump campaign and Republicans announced that they have $295 million. Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon attributed the surge in funds to the grassroots donors.