Democrat Joe Biden maintains a 9-point lead nationally over President Donald Trump (50%-41%) heading into the party convention this week, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Despite the lead, a majority of voters polled are either uncertain or pessimistic about the job Biden would do as president.
"Clearly, Biden is in the lead; clearly, Trump has a lot of problems," Democratic pollster Peter Hart told NBC News, stressing the election is "not a done deal."
"Biden is well-known, but not known well, and people are looking for direction on that."
That is where the Democratic National Convention that runs from Monday through Thursday this week comes into play. It should be expected to drive up enthusiasm and awareness for the challenger.
While Biden gets the first say, Trump gets the last word with his GOP convention the following week. Still, Trump's approval rating lags in the low 40s along with his voter support in the poll amid the global coronavirus pandemic and its related unemployment.
"That seems to me to be short of where he needs to be to win an election," GOP pollster Bill McInturff told NBC News.
The battleground story is not much better for Trump. Biden leads by 7 points (49%-42%), per the poll, in a composite of 11 swing states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
A saving grace for the incumbent is the numbers have trended slightly in Trump's direction since June.
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll surveyed 900 registered voters Aug. 9-12 with a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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