Two top Dem groups team up to boost Biden’s challenge against Trump

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Fox News Poll: Biden leads Trump in head-to-head

In a head-to-head presidential match-up, Biden is up by 49-40 percent over Trump, a lead that is outside the poll’s margin of sampling error. Another 11 percent would vote for someone else or are undecided. That's all according to the latest Fox News poll.

In another sign that the Democratic Party’s consolidating around Joe Biden as the White House race transitions from a primary battle to a general election showdown, two leading outside groups are joining forces to help the former vice president as he now focuses on his challenge to President Trump.

American Bridge – the group that served as the leading pro-Democratic opposition research shop in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections – is teaming up with Unite the Country, the pro-Biden super PAC that formed last autumn to boost the former vice president’s White House bid and has alreasdy spent rougyly $15 million to run ads on his behalf.

BIDEN FACING ENTHUSIASM GAP EVEN AS POLLS SHOW HIM LEADING TRUMP

The two groups, in their Monday evening announcement, pledged to raise and spend nine figures – which is at least $100 million – on polling, research, creating and running ads, and communications. American Bridge and Unite the Country touted that combined, they’ve raised more than $70 million as of Sunday from over 500 donors.

The partnership will be co-chaired by former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who briefly ran this cycle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

As the general election showdown gets underway, Trump enjoys a massive financial and organizational advantage over Biden.

“The Trump campaign is going to have more money than any re-election in history,” said Jim Messina, an American Bridge adviser who steered President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. “Building on the strong efforts to date, the next seven months are going to be critical for Democrats to coordinate for maximum effectiveness to make sure Trump is a one-term president.”

Unite the Country CEO Steve Schale, a veteran Democratic strategist, said that “to beat Donald Trump, it is going to take everyone working together to spend every dollar smartly and strategically.”

And Granholm noted that “the smartest campaign efforts pool resources and align on strategy. This partnership follows that winning model and creates a much-needed hub for donors and like-minded organizations to collaborate.”

THE LATEST FROM FOX NEWS ON THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Biden – thanks to sweeping victories in South Carolina in late February and in primaries from coast to coast in March – has built up a large lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the all-important race for convention delegates, making him the all-but-certain Democratic nominee. And Biden enjoyed a massive wave of support from former 2020 rivals leading Democratic members of Congress and governors, as much of the party consolidated behind the former vice president’s White House bid.

But Sanders – who faces an extreme uphill climb to mount a comeback – is not ready yet to drop out of the race. And the coronavirus outbreak has frozen the primary calendar in place, forcing states to delay their primaries until late May or June and preventing Biden from officially clinching the nomination for now.