Kamala Harris maintains a lead over Donald Trump both overall and among independent voters in a new poll.
Harris leads with 47% to former President Trump’s 44%, according to a Morning Consult poll of 11,778 voters conducted Aug. 9-11.
The current vice president earned 48% in the same poll last week, but maintains a 42-37 lead over Trump among independent voters. At least 12% said they would vote for an independent.
Morning Consult has had Harris leading in every poll it has conducted since late July, when they began polling her against Trump.
The poll was the first the pollster conducted since Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Kamala Harris maintains lead over Donald Trump both overall and among independent voters in new poll
Harris leads with 47% to former President Trump’s 44%, according to a Morning Consult poll of 11,778 voters conducted Aug. 9-11.
Harris’s key demographic groups include Black voters (73%-18%) and voters ages 18-34 (48%-41%).
That’s in line with a new poll of Gen Z and millennial voters in battleground states that found the vice president leading the former president 51 percent to 42 percent in a head-to-head matchup.
The poll, sponsored by Don’t PAC Down, which surveyed voters ages 18 to 29 in eight crucial states, marks a significant shift from what was happening before President Biden dropped out of the race last month.
Harris has continued her recent surge in popularity with 49% of voters viewing her favorably versus 47% viewing her negatively, while Trump’s net favorable rating is at -12.
Harris’ honeymoon may be coming to an end, however, as not only has she fallen one point since last week, but voters have their most negative view of the economy in the past year of polling.
The recent recession, which Trump has referred to as the “Kamala crash,” has caused negative views of the economy to outnumber positive ones by 24 points.
Trump was the overwhelming favorite last month when he appeared triumphantly at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee after being shot in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
But since Harris replaced Biden, liberal media has thrown their support behind her campaign and she has gained momentum. The latest Real Clear Politics polling average shows Harris with a half-point lead over Trump. In the betting averages, that lead is larger, at 5.8 percentage points.
The poll was the first the pollster conducted since Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Trump was the overwhelming favorite last month when he appeared triumphantly at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee after being shot in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In a recent example, Harris generated more confidence than Trump on economic issues, marking a major shift in voter sentiment following Biden’s decision to withdraw.
The poll, conducted for the Financial Times and the Ross School of Business, found Harris holding a one-point lead. It is the first time a Democratic presidential candidate has outperformed Trump on economic issues since the poll began tracking voter sentiment on the issue nearly a year ago.
Another poll conducted by the New York Times and Siena College last week found Harris making gains in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Among likely voters in each state, 50 percent said they would likely vote for Harris, while 46 percent said they would vote for Trump.
Trump began his counterattack on Monday with a much-hyped interview with Elon Musk at X Spaces, but it sparked some controversy after it started late due to technical issues.
However, donors are concerned about Trump’s recent strategy, according to The New York Times.
At an August 2 dinner in the Hamptons, Trump’s top supporters hoped he would “signal that he was recalibrating his stance after a series of damaging gaffes.”
But he did address his “stop the steal” claims about the 2020 election that his advisers have reportedly told him to drop.
The former president last night risked further concern by falsely claiming that his Democratic opponent had doctored a crowd image at his rally last week in Detroit.
Trump began his counterattack on Monday with a much-hyped interview with Elon Musk at X Spaces, but it sparked some controversy after it started late due to technical issues.
Musk’s interview with former President Donald Trump finally began about 40 minutes later than planned
Republican sources told Axios over the weekend that the former president is “struggling to overcome his anger.”
The Trump campaign has considered many options to boost the president’s efforts, including the return of iconic campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, with endorsements from Melania and Lara Trump.
Trump’s 2024 campaign has suffered a triple whammy: the poor public reception to vice presidential candidate JD Vance, Harris’s “honeymoon period” upon entering the race and a similar effect on her choice of running mate, Tim Walz.
Now, what seemed to be a coronation for Trump to return to the White House against Biden has turned into a very close race, with Harris beginning to take the lead in the polls.
However, the “honeymoon phase” of Harris’ campaign and Walz’s announcement appear to be ending with accusations of “stolen valor” during the Minnesota governor’s military service.
Biden himself finally admitted on Sunday that he dropped out of the race because the polls between him and Trump were so dire that they threatened to wipe out Democrats at every level.
