Biden has large lead in Pennsylvania, a state that backed Trump four years ago

Donald Trump

Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump.AP

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by 9 points among likely voters in Pennsylvania, a state that the incumbent narrowly won four years ago, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Biden held a 54%-45% advantage over Trump in the ABC News/Washington Post survey, just inside the poll’s margin of error.

The Democratic challenger also held a 9-point lead among likely voters, 49%-40%, outside the margin of error, in a New York Times-Siena College poll released Monday, and a 7-point lead, 51%-44%, also outside the margin of error, in a Fox News survey released Thursday.

Voters in the ABC/Post poll gave the president low marks for his handling of the coronavirus, said the winner of the Nov. 3 election should nominate the next U.S. Supreme Court justice, and just barely preferred Trump over Biden on the economy.

Trump carried Pennsylvania by less than 1% four years ago, the first time a Republican presidential candidate had won the commonwealth since George H.W. Bush in 1988. It is one of the battleground states Biden is trying to move back into the Democratic column.

The ABC/Post poll showed Biden, a native of Scranton, making inroads in western Pennsylvania, where Trump had strong support in 2016, while rolling up large margins in the Philadelphia suburbs. While trailing Trump among male voters, 53% to 46%, Biden is ahead among women, 61% to 38%.

The president’s approval rating among all registered voters stood at just 43%, with 55% disapproving of his performance in office.

One-fourth of registered voters, 25%, said the economy was their top issue, followed by 18% who named the coronavirus pandemic, 14% who named crime and safety, 13% who said equal treatment of racial groups, 12% who said health care, and 9% who named the U.S. Supreme Court nomination. Trump has chosen Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg with an eye towards cementing a 6-3 conservative majority on the high court.

But while Trump held a 1-point lead on handing the economy, 49%-48%, Biden was preferred on all of the other issues.

Trump voters, though, were more excited, with 71% of his supporters very enthusiastic about voting for him, compared with 51% who said the same about Biden.

The poll of 702 registered voters and 567 likely voters was conducted Sept. 21-26. The margins of error were 4.5 percentage points for registered voters and 5 percentage points for likely voters.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com.

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