A new poll shows Vice President Harris is closing the gap with former President Trump after President Biden’s historic withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
The latest Harvard CAPS/Harris poll shows Trump leading Harris by just three points, down from the seven-point lead he had over Biden in June. Trump has 48 percent of the Republican vote to Harris’ 45 percent, with another 7 percent still undecided.
Harris’ approval rating also increased by nine points after she took over from Biden. Harris and Trump are essentially tied in approval ratings, at 47% and 48%, respectively.
The new figures come after an unprecedented few weeks in politics, including an assassination attempt on Trump at a recent campaign rally and Biden’s withdrawal after a disastrous debate performance.
Roughly four in five voters supported Biden’s decision to drop out of the race, and 55 percent supported his endorsement of Harris.
Compared to the June poll, more Democrats are backing the Democratic candidate and fewer independents are undecided about who they’ll vote for, but at the same time, a quarter of all voters say they’re still undecided about who they’ll support in November.
“With Democrats reunited and enthusiasm rising, Harris gained some easy points,” said Mark Penn, co-director of the Harvard CAPS-Harris poll, “but to get to the next level she will need to win over more independents in key battleground states, which is a tougher task.”
The poll, conducted by the Harvard Center for the Study of American Politics (CAPS), Harris Poll and HarrisX, was conducted July 26-28 among 2,196 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points for the overall sample.
