Harris takes slim lead over Trump in new poll as voters view her as candidate of change
Vice President Kamala Harris has taken a slight edge over former President Donald Trump in a new poll released Tuesday that looked into which candidate voters view as the candidate representing change. Trump, however, maintained his lead among male voters and has kept the trust of most voters on economic issues.
The latest New York Times/Sienna College national poll found that if the election were held today, 49% of respondents would vote for Harris while 46% would vote for Trump. It marks the first time Harris has led Trump in the Times/Sienna poll since President Biden dropped out in July.
Harris took a slim lead among respondents who saw the vice president, not Trump, as a break from the status quo, garnering 46% compared with 44% for the former president.
Harris’ lead in this category was greater when broken down into non-White and younger voters, garnering 61% and 58%, respectively, compared to 29% of non-White and 34% of younger voters favoring Trump, according to the poll.
Despite the slight change for Harris, the poll found Trump still maintained the majority of voter trust on what they consider their most important issues, such as the economy, with 48% compared to 46% for Harris.
Trump is also leading Harris with male voters by 11 points, a group which also favored Trump over Biden in the 2020 election, according to the poll.
While national polls are often a good indicator of the general mood among Americans, they don’t always predict who will win elections, which often come down to important battleground states.
In the latest Fox News survey of registered voters in North Carolina, viewed as one such battleground state, Harris has a 2 percentage-point edge over Trump, 50% to 48%. A month earlier, Trump was ahead by 1 point (50% to 49%), for a 3-point shift in the presidential race.
Respondents in this poll also found Trump more likely to better handle the economy and also gave him the edge in making the country safe.