The US presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is incredibly close, with a new Wall Street Journal poll revealing a surge in support for Harris among non-white voters and a significant rise in enthusiasm among Democrats for her campaign. In a head-to-head matchup, Trump maintains a slight lead, garnering 49 percent of the vote compared to 47 percent for Harris.
This slim lead falls within the poll’s margin of error, which is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Previously, Trump had a six-point advantage over President Joe Biden before he withdrew from the race and endorsed Harris, according to Xinhua news agency.
When other independent and third-party candidates, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., were included in the ballot test, Harris received 45 percent of the support, compared to 44 percent for Trump. Kennedy had the backing of only 4 percent of respondents, and 5 percent remained undecided. In the previous poll, Biden trailed Trump by six points in this multi-candidate scenario.
Both the Harris and Trump campaigns are currently engaged in a race to establish a clearer public image of the vice president. The poll indicates that Harris is viewed favorably by 46 percent of respondents and unfavorably by 52 percent, marking her highest favorability rating in the poll during the current election cycle.
According to the poll results, Trump is perceived as more capable than Harris in handling immigration, the economy, foreign relations, and crime. However, Harris holds an advantage of 51 percent to 33 percent when it comes to dealing with abortion. The two received similar ratings when it came to caring about people like the respondents.
The poll further revealed that 48 percent of respondents believe that, at the age of 78, Trump is too old to serve as President, while only 2 percent expressed the same concern about the 59-year-old Harris. Additionally, 46 percent of respondents believe that Harris possesses the right temperament to be President, compared to only 38 percent who hold the same belief about Trump.
The survey highlighted that many voters are still in the process of familiarizing themselves with the potential vice presidential running mates being considered by Harris. It is expected that she will need to announce her pick by August 7 to meet the deadline set by her party for a virtual nomination process.
The Wall Street Journal poll, conducted by Bocian of the firm GBAO and Lee of Fabrizio Lee, involved interviews with 1,000 registered voters from July 23-25. The margin of error for the entire sample is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.