A new poll shows Vice President Kamala Harris trailed former President Donald Trump on the issues that matter most to voters but held a slight lead over him nationally.
In the national head-to-head contests, Ms. Harris received 49 percent support to Mr. Trump’s 45 percent, but when independent candidates were added, Ms. Harris’s support dropped to 47 percent to 44 percent, while the front-runner, Robert F. Neddy Jr., received 5 percent support among registered voters, pollsters said. Washington Post, ABC News, Ipsos Poll.
By comparison, a July poll showed Trump with 43%, Biden with 42% and Kennedy with 9%.
The results confirm most of the recent national head-to-head polls, which have shown mixed results on whether independent candidates are favored or disadvantaged against Harris.
Various polls have shown the race has tightened significantly since Biden abruptly dropped out of the race on July 21 and handed the baton to Harris.
Despite Harris’s national lead, Trump received higher marks from voters on the key issues behind the ballots.
These include the economy (46% to 37%), inflation (45% to 36%), immigration (46% to 36%), crime and safety (42% to 39%) and the Israel-Hamas war (38% to 33%).
Harris led in the areas of defending democracy (43% to 37%), health care (43% to 36%), abortion (45% to 33%), gun violence (42% to 37%), Supreme Court appointments (42% to 37%) and race relations (45% to 31%).
Voters said the economy was the top issue, followed by inflation, protecting democracy, immigration, health care, crime and safety, abortion, gun violence, Supreme Court appointments, the Israel-Hamas war and race relations.
Harris on Friday sought to shore up support for the economy by laying out several proposals aimed at curbing the cost of living, including a nationwide ban on so-called “price gouging,” a $25,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and an enhanced $6,000 child tax credit.
President Trump and many economists have slammed the policy, which he calls “price gouging” and suggested on the campaign trail that it was more like price controls.
When voters were asked about their vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Democrat) was rated more favorably than Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), with 52% saying they strongly or somewhat supported the Democratic vice presidential candidate and 45% saying they strongly or somewhat supported the Republican vice presidential candidate.
In a big boost for Democrats, the poll showed satisfaction with the candidates soared, jumping from 20% satisfaction with the Biden-Trump option to 60% satisfaction with the Harris-Trump option.
Overall, Harris appears to be more effective at courting the Democratic base than Biden has.
The Post-ABC-Ipsos poll gave Ms Harris a 25 percentage point lead over Mr Trump among voters under 40, while Mr Biden had a 7 percentage point lead. Among Black voters, Ms Harris received 83 percent support to Mr Biden’s 79 percent.
Other opinion polls showed similar trends.
Harris leads Trump in latest national polls RealClearPolitics Count National polls have him leading by 1.2 percentage points in a two-way election. Five-way competitionits lead jumps to 1.5 points.
Recent polls have been mixed on whether the addition of third-party candidates to the national race would give Harris an advantage over Trump, and Trump’s approval rating generally rose slightly when Biden was in the lead.
So RCP’s Random Electoral College MapTrump narrowly won by 276 votes to 262, showing how close the election was.
The Post-ABC-Ipsos poll was conducted among 1,901 registered voters and 2,336 adults from Aug. 9 to 13. For registered voters, the margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, and for adults, the margin of error is 2 percentage points.
Harris is due to fly to Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention, a proceeding that will be largely ceremonial after she was officially named the party’s nominee in a virtual roll call earlier this month.
But Democrats are hoping the convention will give her an added boost with 80 days to go before Election Day.
