Biden leads Trump by 11 points in new national poll

Former Vice President Joe Biden holds an 11-point lead over President Trump in a new national poll, marking the latest survey showing the president trailing his Democratic rival by double digits. 

Fifty-one percent of registered voters said they backed Biden, while 40 percent expressed support for Trump, according to an NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey out Wednesday.

The same survey showed Trump with a 42 percent approval rating and a 56 percent disapproval rating. 

The latest data comes as states that reopened early amid the coronavirus pandemic experience a spike in positive cases and as protests and discussions about racial injustice take place across the U.S. 

The poll showed a majority of registered voters saying that were unhappy with Trump’s handling of both issues. Thirty-three percent of respondents said they approved of Trump’s handling of race relations, while 37 percent said they approved of his handling of the pandemic. 

Trump’s approval rating was higher on his handling of the economy, with 54 percent saying they approved. 

However, the poll showed a majority unhappy with the direction of the country amid the coronavirus pandemic, with 70 percent saying the U.S. was on the wrong track. 

A number of new polls released Wednesday showed Biden consistently leading Trump by wide margins. A national poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday showed Biden ahead by 15 points, 52 percent to 37 percent.

Meanwhile, a Monmouth University survey Wednesday showed Biden with a 13-point edge over Trump in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, which Trump flipped in 2016. 

The RealClearPolitics national polling average on Wednesday showed Biden leading by 8.6 points. 

The NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll was conducted from July 9 to July 12 among 900 registered voters. The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points.