Trump trails Biden in key battleground states just two days before Election Day

Analysts say the president maintains a path to victory, though it appears to be narrowing as the election draws to a close

Former Vice President Joe Biden was leading in the race for the White House across four key states seen as the potential decision-makers in the 2020 presidential election, according to polls released just days before Election Day.

While Donald Trump won in 2016 thanks in large part to states like Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona, he now appears to be trailing his opponent in all four battlegrounds.

In Florida, Mr Biden seemed to have a slight advantage with 47 per cent of support among those surveyed in the New York Times/Siena College polls, compared to 44 per cent of support going to Mr Trump.

Mr Biden had stronger leads in the three other surveyed states: While 52 per cent of respondents in Wisconsin said they were voting for the Democratic nominee, just 41 per cent said they were supporting the president in his re-election bid.

He was also leading in Arizona, a swing state that some analysts said was leaning more Democratic in recent years, with the election of Senator Kyrsten Sinema in 2018 seen as a historic breakthrough for the party — and a result of the “blue wave” that allowed Democrats to regain control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.

Mr Biden held 49 percent of support in Arizona compared to 43 perc ent for Mr Trump.

The polls found the exact same figures for Pennsylvania, with Mr Biden leading Mr Trump by six percent.

With a margin of error of 2.4 points for the Pennsylvania survey, the polling appeared to show the former vice president with a healthy lead in the state seen as one of the most crucial for Mr Trump’s re-election path.

With the latest national surveys and polling data released in the close of the election cycle, Mr Biden seemed to have more pathways towards achieving the 270 electoral votes required to secure the White House than Mr Trump, though analysts have said the president maintained another shot at victory in 2020.

Mr Trump may win the election if he were to secure the electoral votes from at least two of the four states included in the latest surveys comprised by the New York Times and Siena College polls. 

Both candidates have been pitching their closing statements to voters along the campaign trail as voting data indicated more than 90 million Americans have already cast their ballots, a historic surge in early-voting. States across the country have meanwhile expanded mail-in voting options, including in Michigan, which went to Mr Trump in 2016.

Polls now show Mr Biden leading the state, as the president has launched a slew of unfounded and outright false claims that mail-in voting throughout Michigan and other states led by Democrats would lead to massive voter fraud.

Some recent surveys have shown Mr Biden’s rise in key states like Florida occuring at the same time as a spike in Covid-19 cases impacting the region. Voters have consistently said in national and state polling that they trust him over Mr Trump to handle the coronavirus pandemic, which has already killed more than 230,000 Americans nationwide.