Trump Leads Biden in the States He Won in 2016: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump leads Joe Biden 51% to 44% in the so-called “red states” he won in 2016, according to an ABC News/Washington Post survey released on Sunday. Biden had a wide, 65% to 32% lead in the states won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The results highlighted the difference between a raw national poll -- in which Biden led Trump by 10 points, 53% to 43% among registered voters -- and the Electoral College, which will decide the victor in November. Clinton won the popular vote over Trump in 2016 by about 65.85 million to 62.95 million, but Trump triumphed in the Electoral College, 304 to 227.

Biden’s national lead was also halved to five points, 51% to 46%, among people who say they’re certain to vote in November, underlining the importance of generating enthusiasm to drive voter turnout. Potential Trump voters were more enthusiastic.

Trump’s overall approval rating, which rose in the spring, fell to 45%, versus 53% who disapprove, as the U.S. economy reels from the coronavirus pandemic. Only 34% of those polled judged the economy to be in good shape.

The survey of 1,001 adults was taken May 25-28 and results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points.

Biden Urges Protesters to Harness Rage (8:04 a.m)

Joe Biden urged people protesting the death of George Floyd not to allow those demonstrations to devolve into violence and chaos, saying rioting and looting will “drive people away from the just cause that protest is meant to advance.”

“The act of protesting should never be allowed to overshadow the reason we protest,” the former vice president said in a statement released early Sunday.

“Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not. Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not,” he said.

Protests against Floyd’s death while in police custody in Minneapolis have led to rioting and looting in cities across the country. Biden noted the rage in the black community and also the strain the coronavirus has put on those communities. He called on all Americans to use the pain constructively.

“We are a nation in pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us. We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us. We are a nation exhausted, but we will not allow our exhaustion to defeat us,” he said. -- Jennifer Epstein

Coming up:

The District of Columbia, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Indiana have primaries scheduled for June 2.

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