Kamala Harris gaining ground over Trump in polls

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has been steadily gaining ground in a slew of polls over her Republican rival Donald Trump since President Joe Biden passed the baton to her after leaving the White House race.

For the second week in a row, The Economist/YouGov poll conducted between Aug 4 and 6, found the Vice President was leading Trump by 2 points among registered voters, 45% to 43%. The week before, Harris earned 46% support to Trump’s 44% among registered voters in the same poll.

In an earlier The Economist/YouGov poll from two weeks ago, Harris was 3 points behind Trump, at 41% support to the former president’s 44%support.

READ: Indian American Democrats hail Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’ running mate (August 7, 2024)

According to an average of national polls from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, Harris is barely leading Trump, with a lead of 0.1 points. In average, Harris garnered 47.4 percent support to Trump’s 47.3 percent.

The Economist/YouGov poll featured 1,413 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Meanwhile, Harris led by 3 points in a head-to-head 2024 match-up against Trump and in a six-way contest that includes third-party candidates, according to polling data released Tuesday.

A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll, conducted Aug 1-4, 2024, shows Harris leading Trump, 51% support to 48%, with 2 percent of respondents undecided, in a two-way race. Harris also leads Trump among independents, 53% support to 44%.

For months, comments on the presidential race typically included the phrase, ‘baked in.’ That’s no longer the case,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said in a press release.

READ: Ex-Trump White House officials, dozens of Republicans endorse Harris (August 6, 2024)

“Democrats have renewed enthusiasm and confidence with Harris at the top of the ticket, and the new matchup has ignited interest in the contest on both sides,” Miringof

The poll included 1,513 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

Earlier, a new Siena College poll found Harris has nearly doubled Biden’s lead over Trump in New York since launching her campaign last month.

Harris had a 14-point lead over Trump with 53% of support among New York voters, while Trump trailed with 39% of support from his home state. Harris’s lead is up from Biden’s 8-point margin over Trump when the poll was taken in late June.

The poll also showed Harris with a lead over Trump in a six-way race including third-party and independent candidates. Harris received 49% of support, Trump received 39% and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received 7%.

The poll additionally found Harris has support from 86% of New York Democrats, which is up from the 75% who supported Biden in June.

The poll also found Harris leads among Black voters with 81% of support, compared to Trump’s 11% of support.

“The landscape has changed since the last Siena College poll. The change at the top of the Democratic ticket has had a noticeable, while not dramatic, effect on the horserace,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg stated.

The poll also found that Harris has expanded the gender gap in support since replacing Biden at the top of the ticket, now leading Trump by 34 percentage points among women in New York. In comparison, Biden had an 18-point lead over Trump among women in June.

Greenberg noted it was not young voters who helped boost Harris’s support.

“Interestingly, it wasn’t young voters that moved the needle. Among voters under 35, Harris leads 49-34%, down a little from the 51-32% lead Biden had in June. Harris’ big pickup was among voters 35-54, who favor her 54-40%, after backing Trump 44-41% over Biden in June,” he said.

The poll was conducted from July 28 to Aug 1 among 1,199 likely voters in New York. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.