President Trump trails former Vice President Joe Biden in Ohio, Wisconsin and Arizona, according to surveys from Fox News, and that’s a worrisome sign for Republicans up and down the November ballot.
Trump won all three states in 2016, and few believed until recently that Ohio might be in play.
The Fox News poll of the Buckeye State found Biden at 45 percent and Trump at 43 percent.
Trump carried Ohio by 8 points in 2016, and most Democrats had abandoned any hope that the onetime presidential bellwether might be up for grabs in 2020.
The Trump campaign recently put money behind an ad campaign in Ohio in an effort to bolster Trump’s standing there.
The Arizona poll found Biden leading Trump 46 percent to 42 percent.
Trump won Arizona by 4 points in 2016.
The Grand Canyon State has gone for the Democratic presidential nominee only once in the past 70 years, but it has become more purple since 2018 as suburban voters in the densely populated areas around Phoenix have gravitated away from the GOP.
The survey also found Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) trailing her Democratic challenger Mark Kelly by 13 points.
In 2018, Kyrsten Sinema became the first Democratic senator from Arizona in more than two decades.
The Arizona Senate race is a critical contest that could determine the balance of power in the chamber as Democrats seek to win back a majority.
The final Fox News poll found Biden opening up a 9-point lead in Wisconsin, which Trump won only narrowly in 2016.
Trump was first GOP presidential candidate in decades to carry Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Democrats have been bullish about their chances of winning back Michigan and Pennsylvania, but many have been skeptical about their chances of winning back Wisconsin, with its predominantly white electorate.
Biden has also surged past Trump in online betting markets tied to the outcome of the 2020 presidential race as the U.S. continues to grapple with a deepening financial crisis, spreading pandemic and historic protests over police brutality.
Biden has taken his biggest lead over Trump to date in Smarkets, a U.K.-based online gambling platform, as well as PredictIt, an online betting platform established by researchers in New Zealand.
As recently as last week, Trump was favored to win on both platforms.
Biden’s chances have risen to 50%-43% on Smarkets and 53%-46% on PredictIt.
Spokespeople for both companies confirmed that trading volume has risen to levels unseen since March, when the U.S. began shutting down major portions of its economy to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
Betting markets are distinct from polls, which have for months consistently shown Biden leading Trump and currently show Trump behind by about 8 percentage points.