Vice President Kamala Harris is now leading former President Donald Trump in three crucial battleground states, according to a new poll.
New findings by The New York Times, suggest that Harris has now moved ahead of Trump by four points in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Among likely voters in each state, 50 percent said they would likely vote for Harris while 46 for Trump.
Based on the new figures, Harris has erased the lead Trump was building in the states before President Joe Biden dramatically dropped out of the race.
Despite the apparent lead over Trump, the poll shows vulnerabilities for Harris, with voters preferring Trump when it comes to the economy and immigration, two central issues to the race to the White House.
New findings by The New York Times , suggest that Harris has now moved ahead of Trump by four points in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Despite the apparent lead over Trump, the poll shows vulnerabilities for Harris, with voters preferring Trump when it comes to the economy and immigration
Harris is now in a stronger position than Biden was in May with the majority of demographic groups, which includes white voters without a college degree.
The poll showed she is now faring better with Black and young voters, parts of the electorate that had began to erode under Biden, as well as holding older voters.
In terms of the economy, Harris trails Trump by nine points on the issue where he has held an advantage.
Harris has a 24-point advantage when it comes to handling abortion, which is nearly double the advantage Biden had in May of this year.
Forty-two percent of voters said in the poll that Harris was too liberal, with 37 percent saying the same about Biden in the same states last October.
The Trump campaign has been defining Harris as a left-wing extremist who they say is out of touch with the swing-state voters.
But the poll suggests that the attack from the campaign hasn’t landed, with nearly two-thirds seeing Harris as more intelligent than the former president.
Amid Democratic voters, their satisfaction for their choice of candidate has skyrocketed since Harris entered the race, jumping 27 points in the swing states.
The poll showed Harris is now faring better with Black and young voters, parts of the electorate that had began to erode under Biden, as well as holding older voters
The Trump campaign has been defining Harris as a left-wing extremist who they say is out of touch with the swing-state voters. Trump supporters are seen here at a rally in Montana on Friday
Retiree Lee Lanser, from Holland, Michigan, typically votes Republican but is now considering a vote for Harris in November.
Speaking with the Times, he said he might disagree with some Democratic policies, but he couldn’t stand Trump’s ‘disrespectful’ and ‘unacceptable’ attitude.
The 89-year-old told the outlet: ‘Some of her character is real appealing to me. I’m not so sure I agree with a lot of her policies.
‘But the alternative is just not acceptable at all in my mind — because character is everything.’
While John Jordan, a Democratic voter in Croydon, Pennsylvania, said his friends and family were ‘pumped up’ to support Harris than Biden.
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He told the outlet: ‘I believe that she is best suited to move this country forward.
‘I’ll also take it one step further to say, I’m very proud to be part of this historic moment and to hope that, yes, she does become the first African American slash Asian woman to be in the White House. I think that this is just such an exciting time and an exciting moment.’
Jonathan Ball, a floor installer from Jackson, Michigan, said he believes Trump would do more to help working Americans than Harris.
He told the outlet: ‘I think she’s more liberal. I just don’t think she’s all for the middle. I just see her one-sided. You know, for the rich.’
The new poll has also captured mixed feelings about Trump’s running mate, JD Vance.
A number of past comments have come back to haunt the Ohio Senator including a remark that the country was being run by ‘childless cat ladies’ like Harris.
Across all three states, Vance is now viewed as being widely unfavorably by independent voters.
One third say they were dissatisfied, while another 17 percent said they were ‘angry’ about the selection.
He has received a lukewarm response from Republicans, 43 percent said they were excited about Vance as VP, while 38 said they were satisfied but not enthusiastic.
Governor Tim Walz, who was rolled out by Harris as her veep choice, has received high marks from Democrats
A number of past comments have come back to haunt the Ohio Senator including a remark that the country was being run by ‘childless cat ladies’ like Harris
Meanwhile Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who was rolled out by Harris as her veep choice, has received higher marks.
In Pennsylvania, 48 percent of Democrats said they were excited about the nominee, the Wisconsin and Michigan polling was conducted prior to his announcement.
The unease around Vance being picked for VP was echoed by Barbara Kampa, a two-time Trump voter from Greendale, Wisconsin.
She told the Times that she was shocked when she first heard Vance was on the campaign trail.
The 64-year-old said: ‘I was like, “Oh, holy crap. I don’t know how to say it nicely, but holy crap.”
‘He needs to be sat down and told, “Well, this is how we approach things for us to get people to vote for us.”
‘You can’t go out there like it’s the Wild West and start shooting. That turns people off.’
Harris is now set to debate Trump on September 10 on ABC, setting up the first face-to-face match-up between the rivals in what polls show is a close race.
Harris attends her and Governor Tim Walz presidential campaign rally at the High Country in Wisconsin, United States on August 7, 2024
In a news conference at his Palm Beach, Florida, residence, Trump said he wanted additional debates on September 4 and September 25 that would air on Fox and NBC.
Harris said in a post on X that she was looking forward to the September 10 debate after Trump ‘finally committed.’
She told reporters after a Detroit-area campaign stop that she was open to discussing more debates, but a campaign official reiterated their position that a September 4 Fox debate is off the table.
The Harris campaign had already opposed a Fox debate, saying the host network should be one that sponsored recent primary debates by both parties.
Trump previously suggested he might back out of the ABC debate, scheduled before Harris, the U.S. vice president, replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate less than three weeks ago, upending the contest.