Vice President Harris Lead The first poll taken since President Biden’s decision to forgo reelection showed former President Trump leading by two points.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted Monday and Tuesday, Indicated Among registered voters, Harris has a slight lead at 44% to Trump’s 42%, within the poll’s margin of error, but the numbers are an improvement for Democrats compared with similar polls conducted before Biden’s announcement.
A poll released a week ago showed Trump leading Biden by two points and tied with Harris, both within the margin of error.
Trump currently leads Harris by two points, 48 percent to 46 percent, according to a combination of polls managed by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ.
The latest polls in the three-way race against independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. show Harris leading by four points with 42% support, compared to Trump’s 38% and Kennedy’s 8%.
The poll also found that the Democratic candidate’s approval rating has improved slightly since Biden announced his endorsement of Harris on Sunday, with 56% of voters saying Harris is “mentally astute and able to handle challenges,” while only 22% said the same about Biden.
By comparison, 49 percent said the same about Trump.
The vice president’s favorable rating among all adults has also increased, from 39% a week ago to 44% now. The percentage of respondents who view the vice president unfavorably has fallen from 53% to 50%.
Trump’s favorability rating remained unchanged, with 41% viewing him favorably and 55% viewing him unfavorably.
Shortly after the poll was released, Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio warned in a memo that a “Harris honeymoon” was looming, in which the vice president expects to receive widespread positive media coverage.
He said Harris would energize the Democratic Party, but only in the short term, and that she would only have a temporary effect in narrowing Trump’s lead or widening his lead over him.
Fabrizio added that Democrats and the media will use these numbers to claim the race has fundamentally changed, but in reality it hasn’t.
The poll was conducted July 22-23 among 1,241 U.S. adults, including 1,018 registered voters, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points for the overall sample and 3.3 percentage points among registered voters.
