(PJ Media) A new NBC News poll out this week shows a shrinking path to re-election for Joe Biden and an expanding map for Donald Trump.
Can Trump really be competitive in New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, and other blue states? He currently leads in all seven swing states: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina.
Trump has been teasing a blow-out rally in Madison Square Garden and other campaign events in New York. There is also talk in Trump circles of making a strong play for New Mexico and New Jersey.
That doesn’t mean Biden can’t catch Trump in any or all of those states. But as Trump’s competitive edge in states he must win grows, Biden’s path to victory narrows.
If there wasn’t any panic in the Biden campaign previously, the cold sweats have certainly broken out after this NBC poll.
“What is most concerning is the erosion of Biden’s standing against Trump compared to four years ago,” Democrat pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates said. “On every measure compared to 2020, Biden has declined. Most damning, the belief that Biden is more likely to be up to the job — the chief tenet of the Biden candidacy — has evaporated.”
Trump is beating Biden by 5% nationally. But the cross-tabs on specific issues are absolutely devastating.
The numbers on Biden’s handling of the border are even more disastrous. Trump has a whopping 35-point lead on the issue of which candidate would be better at securing the border. On demonstrating the necessary mental and physical health to be president, Trump is at +23.
On dealing with crime and violence, the former president leads Biden by 21 points. Trump also has double-digit leads over Biden when it comes to being competent and effective (+16) and improving America’s standing in the world (+11).
“Biden is making no gains among groups he is going to need to pull off a victory next year,” Morning Consult’s Eli Yokley said in December.
As bad as Biden’s numbers on the economy and the border are, it’s his age and infirmities that could lead to his downfall in the end. Even Democrats say he’s too old.
“I think that [Biden’s] health and age kind of get in the way of his ability to be a good president of the United States,” said a 2020 female Biden voter.
