Trump leads Biden in Arizona, Nevada: Polls

Former President Trump is leading President Biden in head-to-head hypotheticals in both Arizona and Nevada, new polling released Thursday shows.

A new Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey found 46 percent of Arizona voters support Trump when pitted in a one-on-one with Biden, while 43 percent back the incumbent. Another 12 percent were undecided.

In Nevada, an Emerson College Polling/KLAS-TV/The Hill survey found Trump leading by six points — with 46 percent of voters in the state supporting the former president and 40 percent backing Biden. Fourteen percent were undecided.

As Biden and Trump both appear poised to win their respective party presidential nominations, the polls signal a close race in key battleground states.

With independent candidates added into the mix, Trump’s lead over Biden in Arizona jumps from three to six points — and climbs in Nevada from six to 10 points.

Adding independents into the Silver State race, 44 percent picked Trump and 34 percent picked Biden, with another six percent backing independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and one percent each picking Cornel West and Jill Stein. Another 13 percent were undecided.

Over in Arizona, Biden has a slight edge among independent voters, a key voting group in the state, noted Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling. The female vote in the Grand Canyon State was notably split between the current and former presidents, with 44 percent each.

Trump has long held onto frontrunner status in the Republican race, though he faces a lone major challenger in Nikki Haley, who has promised to stay in the race at least until Super Tuesday next month. Meanwhile, Biden has bested his longshot Democratic challengers and looks poised to secure his party nod.

But both leading candidates face hurdles as they compete for a second presidential term. Biden has been plagued by concerns about his age and mental health, while Trump is running amid multiple ongoing legal battles.

Roughly six in 10 voters in both Nevada and Arizona said Biden’s age “raises serious doubts in voting for him” in 2024, while just over half of voters in either state say Trump’s criminal indictments raise similar doubts.

The polls were conducted Feb. 16-19 among 1,000 registered voters in each state, and the results have a credibility interval, which is similar to a poll’s margin of error, of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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