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Trump's Advantage Over Biden on Economy Slipping

Rob Garver

   While former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden has held a steady six
   or seven-point lead over President Donald Trump in the national public
   opinion polls, Trump has held one clear advantage over Biden -- on the
   question of who voters believe is best suited to handle a troubled
   economy.

   As recently as mid-August, a CNN poll indicated that 53% of voters
   believed Trump, the one-time New York real estate magnate, was the
   better candidate for economic issues, with 45% in the survey preferring
   Biden. But even that advantage has begun to dissipate. Just two weeks
   later, the same poll found Trump with a razor-thin 49% to 48%
   advantage. Other polling has shown a similar narrowing. Early September
   polling from CBS News and Quinnipiac showed a virtual tie in voters'
   beliefs about who would better handle the economy.

   The reasons for the change are not completely clear, analysts say, but
   some of the movement is likely related to Biden taking a much more
   aggressive posture in challenging the president's handling of the
   economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

   While Trump has boasted that the 8.4 percent August unemployment rate
   was "much better than expected" and was down from the jaw-dropping 14.7
   percent in April and 10.2 percent in July, the U.S. nonetheless is
   suffering historic economic hardship with roughly 14 million people out
   of work.

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