President Joe Biden said in a polling average shows that Trump now has a 2.5 point lead. At the time of the debate, he and Biden were tied. Trump’s lead in the RealClearPolitics average has increased by a similar increment.
Just how much this all matters remains arguable.
Public opinion analysts agree that polling has become less accurate for a variety of reasons, including differences in response rates from different groups and, more generally, the difficulty of reaching people with cellphones.
And even Biden skeptics within the Democratic Party concede the race remains relatively close.
Their worry is that Biden’s abilities, or at least the perceptions of them, will make it difficult to eliminate whatever popularity gap exists.
