Trump expands lead on Biden after shooting: Polls

Former President Trump has expanded his lead over President Biden in recent polling after last weekend’s assassination attempt.

A survey released Thursday by CBS News found that among likely voters, 52 percent said their choice for president is Trump, while 47 percent said the same about Biden.

Trump’s numbers increased, up from 50 percent in a July 3 survey, while Biden dropped 1 percent.

Biden fared better in battleground states but still trailed Trump. Fifty-one percent of likely voters in battleground states say they choose Trump compared to Biden’s 48 percent.

Most respondents said the way Trump handled the assassination attempt at his Butler, Pa., rally last Saturday had no change on their vote, but 26 percent said they are more likely to consider voting for Trump after the shooting and 7 percent said they are less likely to consider him.

Biden’s poor debate performance last month sparked fear among Democrats about his ability to beat Trump in the election and serve another four years if reelected. Calls for him to step aside and let someone else, namely Vice President Harris, run have persisted in the weeks after the debate.

The survey found that Trump would also lead if Harris were the nominee, 51 percent to 48 percent.

A Morning Consult survey released Thursday also found Trump widened his lead after the shooting.

In that poll, 46 percent of respondents said they will vote for Trump while 42 percent said they will support Biden. Additionally, 8 percent said they will cast their ballot for someone else and 5 percent said they don’t know.

Independent voters leaned toward Trump: 38 percent said they support the former president’s reelection bid compared to 32 percent supporting Biden’s. Meanwhile, 18 percent said they will vote for someone else and 12 percent were undecided.

The CBS News survey was conducted July 16-18 among 2,247 registered voters and has a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points. The Morning Consult survey was conducted July 15-17 among 9,414 registered voters and has a margin of error of 1 percentage point.