Very quietly, and without a lot of public attention, President Joe Biden has chipped away at former President Trump’s early lead in the general election, with recent polling showing Trump’s lead nationally down to just 2 points (44 percent to 42 percent) according to Morning Consult.

To be clear, Biden’s increase in the polls should be tempered by the fact that the polling is, at best, mixed. A recent CNN poll shows Trump with a 4 point lead (49 percent to 45 percent) nationally — nearly double the Morning Consult poll, although still pointing to Trump’s lead being somewhere between 2 and 4 points, hardly an insurmountable obstacle.

In addition, a slew of Morning Consult polls conducted in swing states show that Trump has maintained his lead in Arizona (Trump 3), Michigan (Trump 5) and Georgia (Trump 8).

However, Biden should feel somewhat optimistic that in Arizona and Michigan, Trump’s lead in the Morning Consult polls represents a decline from previous polling, pointing to an improving situation for the president.

Moreover, evidence is beginning to emerge that Biden has at the very least, stabilized the race and that the “Trump surge” has cooled off. Biden appears to have either narrowed Trump’s lead, or even taken the lead in at least some critical swing states, including Pennsylvania, where Biden holds a 1 point lead (43 percent to 42 percent), per Franklin & Marshall College, and Wisconsin, where Fox News polling shows a virtual tie.

Likewise, a national Quinnipiac poll shows President Biden leading by 6 points (50 percent to 44 percent). While certainly an outlier, when all of these polls are netted out, it is clear that, while Trump likely has a slim lead nationally and in a handful of swing states, Biden can make a credible argument that the race is considerably narrower than just a few months ago.

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