Former Vice-President Joe Biden has increased his lead over President Donald Trump among registered voters in the run-up to the 2020 United States presidential election, according to a poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos.

What Happened

According to the poll, conducted with 1,100 participants, 46% of the registered voters said they would support Biden over Trump in the November general election if the former gets Democratic nomination. In comparison, only 40% said they would prefer Trump over Biden. The Democratic contender, who has the edge over rival Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries so far, has increased the lead by five points from a poll conducted early last month by Reuters and Ipsos. 44% of those polled approved of Trump's performance in the office and 48% of his coronavirus response, Reuters noted. In comparison, 70% of the participants approved of their state governors' response to the pandemic.

Why It Matters

The poll results come as Biden's political campaign has come to a near halt due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. President Trump, in comparison, has been at the center of the coronavirus response, although not everyone has agreed with the measures he has taken to curb the spread of the virus. The president earlier suggested that he wanted to restart the economy by Easter, but later backtracked to extend the lockdown as the number of coronavirus cases in the country rose sharply.

These are the burdens our medical heroes already face in NYC. It's only going to get harder across the country. Another reason to maintain social distancing policies at least until we have comprehensive testing in place. Not just for our sake—for theirs. https://t.co/bwNXhOPMYs — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 25, 2020

On Tuesday, he said that anywhere between 100,000 to 240,000 people could die from the coronavirus, even after the mitigation efforts, as reported by the Washington Post. Trump has also clashed with state governors over their demands for increased medical supplies in particular.

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia.

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