US Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during a CNN town hall about how he’d respond to the coronavirus pandemic, on March 27, 2020.

Presumptive US Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden is leading Republican President Donald Trump in three battleground states crucial to winning the US presidential election in November, according to a new poll.

The Ipsos opinion poll conducted for Reuters in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin showed 45 percent of registered voters said they would support Biden, while 39 percent said they would support Trump.

The survey, which ran from April 15-20, also found that Biden, who was vice president during the administration of former President Barack Obama, has an advantage of 8 percentage points among registered voters in Michigan, 3 points in Wisconsin and 6 points in Pennsylvania.

The poll shows Biden has slightly improved his lead over Trump in those states over the past few months, even though his election campaign has been sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the US.

The poll found that the residents of all three states said the coronavirus was the most important problem facing their community. More than 70,000 people have tested positive in all three states combined and 4,500 have died.

A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Tuesday that Biden has an 8-point advantage over Trump nationally, as support for him rose nationally in each of the last three weeks while Trump has come under unprecedented pressure over its highly criticized response to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, neither Trump nor Biden appear to have much of an advantage when it comes to public perceptions of who is better prepared to combat the pandemic and the economic damage that has resulted.

SOURCE: PRESS TV