National polls say Biden is still in a close race with Trump after debate.
Three new major national polls out Sunday morning bolstered President Joe Biden's argument to remain the Democratic Party's nominee this fall after his poor debate performance last month — while also underscoring the structural challenges his campaign has faced for months.
The good news in the data for Biden: His numbers have not slipped markedly in any of the three surveys since the late June debate. The political freefall that some Democrats feared following the June 27 debate is not apparent in the data.
- The Fox News poll showed Trump only 1 point ahead of Biden in a national, head-to-head race, 49 percent to 48 percent. Biden led by 2 points in the previous poll, in mid June, but the shift is well within the poll's margin of error. In the
- NBC News poll, Trump led Biden, 45 percent to 43 percent. The presumptive Republican nominee also held a 2-point lead in NBC's last survey in April.
- The CBS News poll, which surveyed voters in the seven key Electoral College battleground states, shows Trump leading, 50 percent to 48 percent. That's similar to a week ago, when Trump led, 51 percent to 48 percent.
It's far too early to know whether the shooting at Trump's event this weekend or the coming week's Republican convention will lead to more significant changes in the electorate, but the remarkable stability of the race following the debate suggests that's unlikely.