Pew poll finds Biden with 8-point lead on Trump

Former Vice President Joe Biden holds an 8-point lead over President Trump in a new national survey from the Pew Research Center.

The poll, released Thursday, shows Biden leading Trump among registered voters 53 percent to 45 percent.

The poll found a nearly identical percentage of people who said they will definitely vote for Trump or Biden in the November.

Among Biden supporters, 84 percent said they will definitely support him in the fall while 85 percent of Trump voters said they would for sure back him.

Still, the Pew survey echoed findings from other recent polls that showed Trump with more enthusiastic support among his base than Biden has among his.

Sixty-six percent of Trump supporters in the Pew poll said they “strongly support” him while 46 percent of Biden voters said the same of the presumptive Democratic nominee. 

Half of voters surveyed in the poll also said they think it will be very or somewhat easy to vote in the upcoming elections, while 49 percent expect to have difficulties casting a ballot.

That’s a significant increase in those concerned about having difficulty voting this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, as more officials emphasize the necessity of mail-in voting.

In 2018, 85 percent of respondents said it would be easy for them to vote.

Among Trump supporters, 80 percent said that they prefer to vote in person. By contrast, 58 percent of Biden supporters said they prefer to vote by mail. 

The Pew survey collected responses from 11,001 people between July 27 and Aug. 2 and reported a margin of error of 1.5 percentage points.

The survey was conducted before Biden this week announced his selection of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate, a move that preceded a massive fundraising haul for his campaign.