A new national poll shows former President Trump and Vice President Harris roughly tied in approval ratings, while independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy’s approval rating has dropped into single digits.
According to a Pew Research Center survey: Released Wednesdayconcluded that if the election were held today, Harris would garner the support of 46 percent of registered voters. Trump was close behind with 45 percent, while Kennedy would receive just 7 percent of the vote, and 1 percent voted unopposed.
Harris’ entry into the race after Biden dropped out of the race last month appears to have hurt Kennedy’s approval rating, which has more than doubled from 15% last month, according to the Pew Research Center.
The poll showed Trump leading Biden by four points, 44 percent to 40 percent, in a survey last month.
The survey is the latest in several showing Harris gaining momentum against Trump, especially in battleground states, since replacing Biden as the top Democratic candidate. She has energized the party’s base, and various polls have shown her narrowing the lead Trump held when VP Harris faced off against Biden.
Trump has downplayed the surge in support for Harris, suggesting the “honeymoon” phase would be over.
A majority of those who said they would vote for Harris (62%) said they “strongly” supported her, according to a Pew Research Center poll, along with 64% of Trump supporters. That’s a change in the Democratic candidates’ tone since last month, when only 43% of Biden supporters strongly supported the incumbent, while 63% strongly supported Trump.
Voting intent is similar between Harris and Trump supporters, with 70% of the vice president’s supporters saying they are “very motivated” to vote in November, seven points higher than Biden supporters last month.
About 72% of Trump supporters say they are very motivated to vote, up 9 points from last month.
The Decision Desk HQ/The Hill national polling average has Harris at 48.2% approval to Trump’s 46.8%. In multi-candidate polls, the national polling average shows the Democratic candidate widening his lead over his Republican rival, with 47.3% approval to Trump’s 43.5%. Kennedy has 3.1% approval, according to the index.
The Pew Research Center poll was conducted Aug. 5-11 among 9,201 adults, including 7,569 likely voters. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 1.3 percentage points.
