Ahead of the much-awaited debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the former president pulled ahead of Kamala Harris in one of the most-watched national polls. The NYT/Sienna poll found Trump leading Harris, 48 per cent to 47 per cent, within the poll’s three percentage point margin of error. The NYT said that Trump may have had a rough month following Biden’s departure and the burst of excitement that Kamala Harris brought but the poll suggests that his support remains “remarkably resilient”.
The results are surprising but it may have captured a shift back toward Donald Trump. One factor attributed to this is that for Trump, the opinions are largely fixed but Kamala Harris is still unknown to many.
The ABC debate, hence, is more crucial for Kamala Harris, the NYT report said based on its poll in which 28 per cent of likely voters said they felt they needed to know more about Kamala Harris. Only nine per cent said they needed to know more about Trump.
“Overall, the poll may bring Democratic exuberance back to earth after a buoyant party convention in Chicago last month and rapid gains in support for Harris after Biden’s poor showing in the polls. Harris held on to some of the gains she has made with key groups with whom Mr. Biden had been slipping — such as women, young voters and Latino voters — but fell short of traditional Democratic strength. She continues to struggle to build a solid lead with Latino voters, a crucial demographic,” the NYT report said.
“Highest-rated pollster in the country and a large sample size, too. Fortunately for Harris she has the debate this week and none of this will matter if she has a good night,” election data expert Nate Silver commented on X about the recent poll.
Republicans haven’t won the popular vote for president since 2004. Trump had been roundly besting Biden in popular vote polls before the incumbent dropped out on July 21.