In case you missed it… The latest Baldwin Wallace University poll of Ohio voters has Joe Biden now leading Donald Trump — a reversal from just one month ago when that same pollster found Trump was leading Biden in the Buckeye State by 4 percentage points.
It’s the second poll in a month showing the former vice president ahead in Ohio. An NBC News/Marist poll from mid-March found Biden leading Trump 49 percent to 45 percent.
Trump’s disastrous performance during the coronavirus crisis is tanking his approval ratings.
“Back in March, we hypothesized that there was a bit of a rally-around-the-flag effect for Trump, and today we find that his approval rating for his handling of the pandemic has dropped by nearly 10 points,” [Baldwin Wallace Professor Robert] Alexander said.
Even voters who backed Trump in 2016 are starting to sour on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. An Engagious/FPG focus group with swing voters in Canton, Ohio, “described Trump as ‘lackadaisical’ with his words, not always sounding ‘the most educated,’ and being ‘all over the place.’”
April P., 44, said Trump didn’t take the coronavirus seriously at first: “I’ve heard him say before he didn’t know nothing about the shortage of tests for the COVID-19, but yet I’ve seen it all over the news. So how could you not know and you’re running this country?”
Others were concerned that Trump cares more about the economy than people. “He feels like lives are expendable as opposed to the state of the union at this point,” said Sherry W., 46.
The Trump campaign is clearly concerned about Ohio — Donald Trump visited the Buckeye State for his first campaign rally of 2020, and his campaign is spending big on Facebook advertising targeting the state.
READ MORE:
Forbes: Ohio Poll Shows Five Point Swing Towards Biden, Who Now Leads Narrowly
Spectrum News 1: DeWine, Acton Earn High Marks in Ohio Poll for COVID-19 Response; Trump and Biden Tied in Presidential Race
WCPN: Poll: Growing Gap In Approval For DeWine, Trump’s Pandemic Responses
Axios: Focus group: Ohio swing voters want Trump to act more like a governor
