Donald Trump leads Joe Biden nationally and in 7 swing states: Poll

(The Hill) -- Former President Trump is leading President Biden nationally and in seven battleground states, according to a new survey.

The Emerson College poll, sponsored by Democrats for the Next Generation and published Thursday, found 46 percent of registered voters say they support Trump, compared to 42 percent who chose Biden and 12 percent that are undecided. The pollster noted, however, that Biden’s support dipped by 2 points since the poll was taken earlier this month while Trump’s support stayed the same.

“Recent polling shows Biden losing support more significantly than Trump gaining it since the attempted assassination," Spencer Kimball, director of Emerson College polling, said in a statement. "This raises questions about whether Biden’s decline is still influenced by the debate or if Trump has reached his support ceiling."

The survey was conducted after the attempted assassination of Trump over the weekend, where a gunman took aim at the former president during a rally in Pennsylvania and grazed his ear with a bullet. The gunman and one rally attendee were killed during the incident, and two others were critically injured, per the Secret Service.

The poll also noted that since March, Trump has gained 1 point in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and two points in Arizona. He has lost one point in Michigan.

The closest race, according to the poll, is in the swing state of Michigan, where Trump leads with 45 percent of support and Biden trails with 42 percent of support. Another 13 of respondents said they are undecided.

Trump leads Biden by five percentage points in the states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada and by six points in Georgia. He also has a 7-point lead in both North Carolina and Arizona, per the survey.

Biden carried the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia in 2020 and narrowly lost North Carolina.

The poll also comes after Biden’s shaky debate performance last month, which prompted concerns among Democrats and calls for him to step aside from the race. The survey found that 36 percent of Democratic primary voters said he should withdraw, while 64 percent said he should stay the course.

The national poll was conducted July 15-16 among 2,000 registered voters with a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.