New poll shows Biden widening his lead over Trump in Nevada

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Patrick Semansky / AP

This combination of Sept. 29, 2020, photos shows President Donald Trump, left, and former Vice President Joe Biden during the first presidential debate at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tue, Oct 27, 2020 (2 a.m.)

Democrat Joe Biden has widened his lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada, 50% to 41%, according to the latest BUSR/UNLV Lee Business School Nevada poll.

Biden led Trump by 5 points in the last two polls in August and September. The latest poll was conducted Oct. 16 to Oct. 21 and on Oct. 23, after the final presidential debate.

BUSR, an online sports book, paid for the poll, which surveyed 802 self-identified likely voters. The margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points.

The poll comes as mail-in and early in-person voting is well underway in Nevada, where more than 571,000 people had cast ballots as of Saturday. Democrats were leading Republicans by 48,213 voters.

With just over a week to go before Election Day on Nov. 3, the campaigns are making a last push to drum up votes in Nevada and Arizona.

Trump is scheduled to headline a rally Wednesday in Bullhead City, Ariz., just across the state line from Laughlin because of pandemic-mandated crowd size restrictions. Vice President Mike Pence will be in Reno on Thursday. Biden’s running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, will appear at events today in Las Vegas and Reno before heading to Arizona.

“In yet another display of his backward priorities, Donald Trump will hold a rally billed to Nevadans in Arizona,” said Madison Mundy, spokeswoman for the Nevada Democratic Party.

While the latest Nevada poll is good news for Biden, his lead is narrower in other surveys.

Polling website FiveThirtyEight’s average of polling results has Biden up 6.5 points.

Biden received more support than Trump across party lines, with 11% of Republican likely voters saying they supported Biden and 6% of Democrats saying they supported Trump.

Biden led Trump 43% to 37% among independent voters.

Biden led Trump in Nevada’s urban areas — 53-39 in Clark County and 49-41 in Washoe — while rural voters backed Trump 54-37.

Trump’s campaign has long seen Nevada as in play, despite the state not having gone for a Republican presidential candidate since 2004.

Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, called polls a tactic to suppress Republican voters during a campaign appearance last week.

“I truly believe that my father-in-law was chosen for this time, for this moment in our history,” she said during a rally at the Westin Las Vegas.

According to CNN polling, Biden also leads in swing states of Florida (50-48), and North Carolina (51-47), while they are even in Georgia.

On the issues, voters in the UNLV poll favored Biden over Trump 51-37 on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and 49-40 on foreign policy issues. Trump received more support for handling the economy, 47-44.

Broken down by race and ethnicity, Trump led Biden 49-44 among white voters and a 45-43 among Asian voters. Biden led Trump 58-29 among Hispanic voters and 78-14 among Black voters.

Biden led Trump in every age group except voters ages 50 to 64.

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