Trump holds slight leads over Biden in North Carolina, Georgia polling

Former President Trump has a slight lead over President Biden in Georgia and North Carolina, according to new polls, showing a tightening race as the general election season gets in full swing.

A pair of surveys released Wednesday by Marist College show Trump has 51 percent support in both states, with Biden taking 47 percent of the vote in Georgia and 48 percent in North Carolina. While Trump leads, the margin is smaller than most polls in the states, and national polls show Biden has gained on the former president in recent weeks.

Georgia, where Biden pulled off an upset victory in 2020, is set to again be one of the most important battleground states in November. There, Biden holds a 1 percent lead among independent voters, per the poll. Compared to 2020, he has also polled worse among young people, taking a 5 percent lead over the former president, falling from 13 percent in the last election.

In North Carolina, independents were more likely to side with Trump by about 6 percent, the survey found.

Biden has also lost support among Black voters, with only 79 percent of Black respondents giving the incumbent their support in the recent survey. The president won 92 percent of the Black vote in 2020. 

Biden outperformed the average polling margin in both states, where Trump leads Biden by 7.4 percent in North Carolina and 5.1 percent in Georgia, according to polling averages from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ. Nationally, Trump’s average lead has shrunk to just 0.7 percent, down from about 2.6 percent last month.

In both states, strong majorities believe that Trump either committed a crime or acted unethically, in relation to his multiple criminal investigations, the survey found — 71 percent in Georgia and 73 percent in North Carolina. 

Respondents said their chief concern for Biden is his age, with 59 percent of people in both polls saying the president’s mental acuity is a real concern for his reelection. The incumbent, who is 81, is the oldest sitting president in history.

GOP candidates also have an advantage on generic ballots, with 50 percent of voters backing the Republican, compared to 47 percent choosing the Democrat in Georgia and 48 percent in North Carolina.

The two Marist polls surveyed about 1,200 registered voters in Georgia and North Carolina from March 11-14. The margin of error was 3.7 percentage points in the Peach State and 3.6 percentage points in the Tar Heel State.