The race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is extremely close, according to a new national poll conducted after President Biden announced he was suspending his campaign and endorsing his vice president.
Trump, who was formally nominated as the Republican Party’s nominee for 2024 presidential election at last week’s Republican National Convention, has the support of 46% of registered voters in an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released Tuesday.
Harris announced on Monday night that she had secured the party’s nomination with the backing of a majority of the roughly 4,000 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention, but her approval rating was 45%.
Trump’s one-point lead was within the survey’s margin of sampling error. Nine percent of respondents were undecided.
Now that Harris has secured the Democratic nomination, what’s next for her?
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
Among independents surveyed, Trump beat Harris 46% to 32%, with one in five undecided.
Among the multiple candidates, the poll showed Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump tied at 42% support, while Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was at 7%, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West were at 1% each.
“When you look at the top line after everything that’s happened this month, the presidential races all look very similar, even though the names have changed,” emphasized Lee M. Miringoff, president of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion Research. “But when you look more closely at the numbers, a different story emerges, with many more voters undecided and others potentially reconsidering their choice.”
Harris breaks fundraising record since Biden dropped out of 2024 presidential race
The poll was conducted on Monday, a day after Biden made the shock announcement that he was ending his 2024 reelection bid against Trump.
A separate national poll by Reuters/Ipsos conducted on Monday and Tuesday after Biden announced his endorsement showed Harris leading 44% to 42%, a margin within the survey’s sampling error.
The president’s swift endorsement of Harris on Sunday sparked a surge in support among Democratic governors, senators, representatives and other party leaders for Harris to succeed Biden as party leader in 2024.
President Joe Biden salutes aboard Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, on July 23, 2024. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters)
Biden suspended his campaign amid growing pressure from within his Democratic Party to withdraw after his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate with Trump last month.
Read Fox News’ latest report that Harris will replace Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee here
The 81-year-old president was unsteady and awkward in his answers for the first 20 minutes of the debate in front of a national audience, raising immediate questions about whether he was mentally and physically capable of serving another four years in the White House.
The poll found that 87% of Americans believe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race was the right one, while only 12% thought it was wrong.
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination during an event at West Allis Central High School, Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in West Allis, Wisconsin. (Kayla Wolf/The Associated Press)
Just over four in 10 people surveyed (65% of Democrats) said Biden’s decision would make it more likely that Democrats would win the November election, while just under a quarter said Biden’s decision would make it less likely for Democrats, and 34% said it would have no effect either way.
Leading Republicans have called for Biden to resign in response to his decision, but the poll found that 68% of Americans, including 47% of Republicans, said the president should serve out his term, and just over three in 10 said he should step down now.
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Both Harris and Trump languish when it comes to favorability, with Harris at 40%-44% favorable/unfavorable and Trump at 43%-49% favorable/unfavorable.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Saturday, July 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, has a favorable rating of 28% and an unfavorable rating of 31%, with just over four in 10 people either not familiar with the senator or not sure what to think of him.
As for Harris’ running mate, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are leading the way among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, with 21% support each.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro followed with 17%, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly with 13%, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper with 7%, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Maryland Governor Wes Moore each with 6%.
investigation The overall sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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