Joe Biden
Joe BidenReuters

US President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are in a tightly competitive race for the White House in the November general election, with the president gaining ground on Biden over the past month, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.

According to the poll, Trump has moved from what was a seven-point deficit in February to a near tie with Biden today. Among registered voters, Biden is favored by 49 percent and Trump by 47 percent. When the poll measures preferences among all adults, Biden stands at 50 percent and Trump at 44 percent.

Trump is more trusted to handle the economy, while Biden is more trusted to deal with health care. When voters are asked whom they trust more to confront the coronavirus outbreak, the difference between the two is statistically insignificant.

The general election test of sentiment comes at a moment when the president has hit the highest job approval ratings of his presidency but also at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has upended life in America and put politics mostly on hold for most people.

The poll tests only national sentiment, which would translate into the popular vote, not the state-by-state competition for an electoral college majority.

Biden has not yet secured the 1,991 delegates he needs to claim the Democratic nomination and with many primaries now delayed, will not soon be able to add to the 277-delegate lead he currently enjoys over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Biden expanded that lead in the March 17 primaries in Arizona, Illinois and Florida, beating Sanders by between 11 and 39 points in those states.

Nonetheless, the new poll finds that Biden maintains a strong lead nationally over his last remaining rival. Among registered Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, Biden is favored by 55 percent compared with 39 percent for Sanders.

A month ago, before Biden began his turnaround in fortunes, Sanders had a 2-to-1 lead on the former vice president in the Post-ABC poll.

Despite the rapid consolidation around Biden among a broader Democratic electorate, the former Vice President suffers from an enthusiasm gap when contrasted with the incumbent president, the poll finds.

More than 8 in 10 (86 percent of) registered voters who currently side with Trump say they are enthusiastic about their support. That compares with 74 percent of Biden supporters.

Among registered voters who support Trump, 55 percent say they are very enthusiastic about backing him while 32 percent say they are somewhat enthusiastic. Among Biden’s supporters, a far smaller 28 percent say they are very enthusiastic while 46 percent are somewhat enthusiastic.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted by cell and landline telephone from March 22-25 among a random national sample of 1,003 adults and 845 registered voters. Results among both groups have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.