Trump and Harris neck and neck after summer upheaval, Times/Siena poll finds
The survey finds that Donald Trump is retaining his support and that, on the eve of the debate, voters are unsure they know enough about where Kamala Harris stands.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris enter the homestretch of the campaign in a tight race, and with their only scheduled debate looming Tuesday, Harris faces a sizable share of voters who still say they need to know more about her.
A national poll of likely voters by The New York Times and Siena College found Trump leading Harris, 48% to 47%, within the poll’s 3-percentage-point margin of error and largely unchanged from a Times/Siena poll taken in late July just after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid. Trump may have had a rough month after the president’s departure and amid the burst of excitement that Harris brought Democrats, but the poll suggests his support remains remarkably resilient.
The national results are in line with polls in the seven battleground states that will decide the presidential election, where Harris is tied with Trump or holds slim leads, according to Times polling averages. Taken together, they show a tight race that remains either candidate’s to win or lose.
Only a little more than eight weeks remain in the shortest presidential election in modern American history. Both candidates have scant opportunity to shift the electorate, but for Trump, opinions are largely fixed. Harris is still unknown to many.
In that sense, the new poll underscores the risks and potential rewards, particularly facing Harris, on Tuesday night, when she and Trump will face off on ABC News. The survey found that 28% of likely voters said they felt they needed to know more about Harris, while only 9% said they needed to know more about Trump.
These voters, when taken with the 5% of voters who said they were undecided or did not lean toward either major-party candidate, paint a portrait of an electorate that could be more fluid than it seems. Some who are considering Harris said they still hoped to learn more before solidifying their decision, and two-thirds of those who want to know more said they were eager to learn about her policies, specifically.
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.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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