Election 2020 Polls: 45% Have Negative View Of Biden Compared To 52% For Trump

Elections are often dismissed as popularity contests, but the 2020 U.S. presidential race could boil down to an unpopularity contest, a new poll shows.

Just on the basis of unpopularity, 45% of respondents to the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll hold a negative view of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The breakdown is 10% somewhat negative and 35% very negative.

While those numbers might look bad for Biden, they're even worse for incumbant Donald Trump, who has a combined 52% negative rating. That breaks down into 8% somewhat negative and 44% very negative.

“Clearly, Biden is in the lead," said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. "Clearly, Trump has a lot of problems."

Hart, however, said the election is “not a done deal.” That's because a majority of voters say they’re either uncertain or pessimistic about the job Biden would do as president. As for Trump, the challenge he faces is expanding support beyond his core Republican base.

While Trump’s negative ratings have remained fairly constant since he took office in January 2017 (38% very negative and 10% somewhat negative), Biden's has doubled during that span, from 22% (10% somewhat negative and 12% very negative ) after serving as vice president under Barack Obama.

In the likeability race, 30% rate Trump very positively and 10% somewhat positively. Those resapective numbers for Biden stand at 18% and 21%.

The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, conducted Aug. 9-12, confirms what previous polls over the past few months have shown: Biden leads Trump by almost double digits among voters asked whom they would vote for if the election was held today. Biden was the choice of 50% of voters compared to 41% for Trump.

Biden has led Trump by up to 11 percentage points in this question dating back to the last poll in March. Biden also led Trump 51% to 40% in July.

In nine NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls since October 2019, Trump's disapproval rating has remained above 50%. In the latest poll, a record-tying 54% of respondents totally disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president. This number is three percentage points lower than the figure for July. In August, 44% totally approved of Trump at his job compared to 42% in July.

Trump's disapproval rating is sagging amid strong voter dissatisfaction with his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 33% of respondents say Trump will be better at dealing with COVID-19 compared to Biden. On the other hand, 49% say Biden will do a better job.

The percentages in who's better at handling race relations is even more skewed in Biden's favor: 53% to 29%. By a margin of 49% to 26%, respondents say Biden will do a better job than Trump in bringing the country together.

By a margin of 50% to 34%, voters say Biden will be better than Trump at dealing with health care. By a similar 49% to 39% result, voters say Biden has better leadership qualities and will be better than Trump at foreign policy.

Trump leads Biden in dealing with the economy (48% to 38%); dealing with crime (43% to 39%) and having the physical and mental qualities needed to be president (39% to 37%).