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New 2020 election map predicts resounding victory for Biden against Trump

While it may just show a snapshot in time, the former vice president currently has a clear lead against the Republican incumbent

Chris Riotta
New York
Friday 07 August 2020 17:13 BST
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NBC unveils first 2020 election map showing resounding victory for Joe Biden

With months to go until one of the most unprecedented elections in American history, anything can happen — but at least one new prediction has forecasted a resounding victory for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

The first 2020 battleground electoral map by NBC News was released on Friday, showing the former vice president with a lead of 334 electoral votes.

President Donald Trump was trailing behind Mr Biden in the new forecasting with just 125 electoral votes. At least 270 votes in the Electoral College are required to secure a victory in the presidential elections.

While Mr Trump won with 306 electoral votes in 2016, the latest national polling has him losing to Mr Biden in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Mr Biden seemed to be gaining ground in other states like Florida, North Carolina and Arizona, all of which have favoured Republican presidential nominees in past years but have appeared to shift somewhat following the 2016 election.

Meanwhile, states that have remained reliably Democratic did not appear to be shifting towards Mr Trump, making those battleground regions all the more crucial come November.

The former vice president has consistently polled higher than Hillary Clinton when she was the Democratic nominee in 2016, who held a 7.5-point lead over Mr Trump in some national polls taken just after the Democratic National Convention in early August that year.

His average level of national support has also remained higher than the former secretary of state’s ever did while she ran for the White House.

Still, questions remain as to whether the president can manage an economic rebound ahead of the election — a move that could better position him in the polls by November — as well as what will happen with the coronavirus pandemic. Many states across the country and countless businesses have been forced to reinstate restrictions and lockdowns amid a reemergence of the novel virus.

The latest jobs report released on Friday showed a sharp slowdown in hiring, with payrolls rising by just 1.7 million compared to 4.7 million the month prior. The nation’s unemployment rate remained at a historic double-digit figure of 10.2 percent — a less than one percent drop from June.

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