Fox News poll sees Trump's popularity drop to new low as Biden increases lead

Voters also named racism, coronavirus and unemployment as United States’ main threats

Donald Trump’s popularity has dropped to another low, as Fox News’ latest poll shows 12 percentage points between the US president and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

The poll, which was carried out between 13-16 June and published on Thursday, shows Trump trailing Mr Biden by the widest margin to date.

Some 50 per cent would support Mr Biden at November’s presidential election, compared to 38 per cent who said Mr Trump would have their vote.

The poll indicates some movement amongst voters, who last month backed Mr Biden with 48 per cent and Mr Trump with 40 per cent.

American voters have now seen weeks-long protests against institutionalised racism and police violence, in which Mr Trump threatened to “dominate the streets” to stop demonstrations.

An increase in Covid-19 infections across 21 states where leaders have ceded to White House demands to ease pandemic measures have also caused alarm among some voters.

Those polled named coronavirus, racism, and unemployment as the three key threats facing the country, with 64 per cent, 67 per cent and 67 per cent respectively listing them as the "major" danger.

On race relations, some 61 per cent disapproved of Mr Trump’s actions, whilst 32 per cent approved. In comparison, 56 per cent and 37 per cent gave the same responses last month.

Whilst less than 20 per cent said they or someone from their household had protested against the death of George Floyd, who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, some 57 per cent backed the protests, compared to 35 per cent who disapproved.

The poll also showed that almost two thirds of Democratic voters were backing Mr Biden because they feared Mr Trump would be re-elected in November, with 31 per cent identifying their enthusiasm for Mr Biden as the main factor.

Fox News pollster Daron Shaw said: “Negative emotions like fear, anxiety, and anger, can be powerful motivators for political participation. The lack of enthusiasm for Biden, however, does create an opening for Trump to define him as out of touch and not up to the task.”

The latest poll comes after Mr Trump demanded that CNN apologise for publishing a poll last week which showed him losing to Mr Biden by 14 percentage points.