Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump among Georgia voters, while the candidates are in a virtual tie in Ohio, according to a new poll released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University.
The results show Biden leading Trump 51 to 44 percent among Georgia voters likely to turn out for next month’s election.
Four percent of voters are still undecided, according to the survey.
Wednesday’s numbers are up from 50 percent support for Biden and 47 percent for Trump in an earlier poll conducted by Quinnipiac on Sept. 29.
That survey was completed before the first presidential debate and before Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, Quinnipiac researchers noted.
Likely Georgia voters give Trump a 45 percent approval rating for how he’s handling his job. Forty-four percent said they approve of how he is handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said the president’s drop in support in Georgia, means “alarms are going off in the Peach Tree state.”
A national poll average from RealClearPolitics also has Biden leading the incumbent Republican president by nearly 10 percentage points.
“For Trump, 2016 is a distant memory. Defeating Hillary Clinton by 5 points when the polls closed then, and now down 7 to Biden with three weeks to go,” Malloy said.
Things are less certain in Ohio, where the two presidential candidates remained locked in a near tie.
Likely voters there support Biden at 48 percent versus Trump at 47 percent while 4 percent is still undecided, Quinnipiac researchers said.
The state is similarly divided on the president’s approval rating, with 47 percent saying they approve of how he’s doing his job. Forty-six percent said they are in favor of how he is handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Mary Snow called the race a “nail-biter.”
“Joe Biden and Trump remain locked in a race that is too close to call, and the needle hasn’t budged with each candidate sitting exactly where they were in late September,” she said.
Georgia, long a bastion of Republican support, now also has two Senate seats up for grabs.
Democratic candidates are leading in both the race against Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue and in a special election for the other U.S. Senate seat filled by appointment.
Democratic challenger Jon Ossof is leading Perdue by 6 percentage points among likely voters, according to Quinnipiac’s poll. That’s up from polling in late September that showed a near tie between the two candidates.
In the special Senate election, Democrat Raphael Warnock leads with 41 percent of voters likely to turn out— up 10 points from September.
Republican Doug Collins and Sen. Kelly Loeffler, appointed to fill the vacant seat in December of last year, trail at 22 percent and 20 percent of the vote, respectively.
If no candidate takes more than 50 percent of the vote, the election will go to a runoff, but Quinnipiac’s polls show Warnock leading his Republican opponents in both potential scenarios.
