Swing state polls show Biden far ahead in Minnesota, with narrower lead in Wisconsin
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is polling ahead of President Donald Trump in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to new surveys of the two Midwestern battlegrounds.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Wednesday reports that 57 percent of likely voters polled in Minnesota prefer Biden and 41 percent favor Trump, a 16-point advantage for the former vice president.
Biden’s margin in Wisconsin is narrower, according to another Post-ABC poll also published Wednesday that shows him with a 6-point lead among the state’s likely voters, 52-46 percent.
In 2016, Trump lost Minnesota to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by 1.5 percentage points, but he won Wisconsin by 1 percentage point.
According to a RealClearPolitics average of Minnesota surveys conducted from Sept. 3-13, Biden remains 10.2 percentage points ahead of Trump in general election polling.
The RealClearPolitics average of Wisconsin polling, which includes surveys from Aug. 29-Sept. 13, shows Biden ahead of Trump by 6.7 percentage points.
Trump’s campaign has fixated on flipping Minnesota in the November election, part of its strategy to home in on a handful of Midwestern states that were closely decided in 2016.
A Republican presidential candidate has not carried Minnesota since 1972.
Meanwhile, Trump is seeking to retain control of Wisconsin after his upset victory there four years ago.
Wisconsin wields outsize influence over the electoral map, as it was one of three Midwestern swing states — along with Michigan and Pennsylvania — that helped propel Trump to office.
The Post-ABC News polls were conducted Sept. 8-13, surveying 615 likely voters in Minnesota and 605 likely voters in Wisconsin. The margin of sampling error in both polls is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points for the samples of likely voters.
