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Biden leads Trump by 14 points as three quarters of Americans say the president could have avoided coronavirus, new polls show

  Joe Biden opened his widest lead in the presidential race in a month, according to a new poll taken immediately after their first debate T...

 Joe Biden opened his widest lead in the presidential race in a month, according to a new poll taken immediately after their first debate Tuesday. 

In a NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released Sunday 54 per cent were backing the democrat with 39 per cent for Donald Trump.

The majority of Americans also think the president could have avoided infection if he had taken the virus more seriously, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, also released on Sunday. 

And a third new ABC News/Ipsos poll taken Friday and Saturday and released Sunday found 72 per cent of Americans thought the president did not take the 'risk of contracting the virus seriously enough,' nor 'the appropriate precautions when it came to his personal health.'

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the severity of the pandemic as something that would disappear on its own, chiding Biden as recently as last week for wearing a protective mask, even as the coronavirus infected millions of people and forced businesses and schools to close. 

The Reuters October 2-3 national opinion poll gave little indication of an outpouring of support for the president beyond Trump's core group of followers, some of whom have gathered outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where the president has been hospitalized.

 Democrat Joe Biden opened his widest lead in a month in the U.S. presidential race after President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, and a majority of Americans think Trump could have avoided infection if he had taken the virus more seriously, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the severity of the pandemic as something that would disappear on its own, chiding Biden as recently as last week for wearing a protective mask, even as the coronavirus infected millions of people and forced businesses and schools to close

Trump thanks the staff at Walter Reed hospital before leaving
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Among those adults who are expected to cast ballots in the November 3 election, the Reuters poll found that 51 per cent were backing Biden, while 41 per cent said they were voting for Trump. Another 4 per cent were choosing a third-party candidate and another 4 per cent said they were undecided. 

Most Americans continue to be deeply worried about the virus, and the poll found that 65 per cent, including 9 in 10 registered Democrats and 5 in 10 registered Republicans, agreed that 'if President Trump had taken coronavirus more seriously, he probably would not have been infected.'

Only 34 per cent said they thought that Trump has been telling them the truth about the coronavirus, while 55 per cent said that he was not and 11 per cent were unsure.

Of those polled, 57 per cent of Americans said they disapproved of Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic overall, up about 3 points from a poll that ran late last week.

Biden's 14-point edge over Trump, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, is several points higher than leads Biden posted over the past several weeks but still has a margin of error of 3.5 points.

With about a month to go before the election, Biden has maintained an early advantage in securing the national popular vote. But to win the presidency, a candidate must prevail in enough states to win the Electoral College, and state polls show that Trump is nearly as popular as Biden in battleground states. 

Trump, 74, was transferred to Walter Reed on Friday, hours after tweeting that he was diagnosed with COVID-19. 

The announcement set off a dizzying split-screen experience for many: as media alerts lit up cell phones and television chyrons about Trump feeling feverish and needing oxygen, several other Republican leaders who had been in close proximity with the president announced that they, too, had tested positive.


Trump, left, and Biden, right, with moderator Chris Wallace, center, participate in the first presidential debate of the 2020 election. It is unclear at this point how Trump's diagnosis will impact the next presidential debate, which is scheduled for October 15

Trump, left, and Biden, right, with moderator Chris Wallace, center, participate in the first presidential debate of the 2020 election. It is unclear at this point how Trump's diagnosis will impact the next presidential debate, which is scheduled for October 15

Biden says he doesn't want to attack Trump while while he's sick
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Americans also appear to be largely supportive of curtailing the 2020 presidential race to ensure everyone's safety.

According to the Reuters poll, 67 per cent of Americans want to stop in-person campaign rallies and 59 per cent think the presidential debates should be postponed until Trump recovers from the coronavirus.

It is unclear at this point how Trump's diagnosis will impact the next presidential debate, which is scheduled for October 15. 

The first vice presidential debate between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Mike Pence is scheduled for Thursday.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,005 U.S. adults, including 596 likely voters.

Only about 61 per cent of voting-age Americans actually voted in the 2016 election.

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