Biden Holds Lead Over Trump, Polls Show, But There Are Signs Race Is Tightening

Joe Biden holds a significant lead over President Trump on the first day of his party’s convention, polls show, though there are signs the race is tightening.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Biden ahead of Trump 53% to 41% nationally, slightly smaller than the 15-point lead in the same poll taken last month.

The poll—conducted August 12 to August 15 in a survey of 868 registered voters—was taken after Biden named Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate.

A separate CNN poll released Monday showed Biden up just 4 points over Trump, one of the best national poll results for the president in months and within the poll’s margin of error.

The CNN poll—which was conducted August 12 to August 15, in a survey of 987 registered voters—is somewhat of an outlier, as a running average of national polls show Biden ahead by around 8 points, according to Real Clear Politics’ tracker.

There are other worrying signs for Biden: Trump voters are more enthusiastic (9 in 10 voters say so) about voting for their candidate than Biden supporters (about 8 in 10 voters), according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Just 38% of Biden voters in the CNN poll said they’re voting “for Biden,” while 67% of Trump supporters say they’re voting “for Trump.” A poll released last week found a whopping 56% of Biden voters in a Pew Research Center poll saying they’re voting for the candidate because he’s not Trump, for more than any other reason they gave for voting for the candidate.