Biden leads Trump by 12 in new national poll

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has a 12-point lead nationally over President Trump in a new CNN poll released Wednesday.

The former vice president gets 54 support among likely voters in the survey, while Trump trails at 42 percent, a wider gap than most nationwide polls show. In a sign that the vast majority of voters have made up their mind, just 4 percent said they would vote for another candidate, vote for neither of the two contenders or had no opinion.

The survey shows Biden heading into the final sprint to Election Day with far greater support across the country than Hillary Clinton enjoyed before her surprising defeat in 2016. Biden has led every CNN poll against Trump since last year. 

Biden’s lead is fueled by both yawning margins among Democratic-friendly voting blocs and narrow ones among demographics that typically favor the GOP. 

Biden has a 61 percent to 37 percent lead among women and a 71-24 percent lead among non-white voters. Meanwhile, the former vice president trails by just 1 point among men and 2 points among white voters, gaps that fall within the poll’s margin of error. Biden also has a 65-44 percent lead among seniors, a historically Republican-leaning group that is set to play an outsized role in key swing states such as Arizona and Florida. 

Biden also has a net-positive favorability rating, with 55 percent of likely voters saying they have a favorable view of him and 42 percent saying they have an unfavorable one. Trump’s approval rating is underwater, with 42 percent approving and 55 percent disapproving of the job he’s doing as president. 

Most other national surveys show Biden with leads, and the former vice president is solidifying his edge in a number of critical swing states. In a sign Biden is feeling confident in his position heading into Nov. 3, he campaigned in Georgia and Iowa, two GOP-leaning states that he does not need to win to put together a path to 270 electoral votes.

The CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, surveyed 886 likely voters from Oct. 23-26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percent.