Vice President Kamala Harris clinched a slim lead over former President Donald Trump nationally, despite lagging behind him on top issues for voters, a new poll found.
Harris nabbed 49% support to Trump’s 45% in a one-on-one matchup nationally and saw her advantage slip to 47% to 44% when independent candidates were added to the mix, with hopeful Robert F. Knnedy Jr. clocking in at 5% among registered voters, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.
For comparison, back in July, the poll pegged Trump at 43%, President Biden at 42% and Kennedy at 9%.
The finding corroborates the majority of recent head-to-head national polling. Polls have given mixed results as to whether or not independent contenders help or hurt Harris.
A melange of polling has shown the contest tightening markedly since Biden abruptly withdrew from the race on July 21 and passed the baton to Harris.
Despite Harris’ lead nationally, Trump garnered higher marks from voters on key issues behind their votes.
This includes 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 had the advantage on safeguarding 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 indicated that the economy was their top issue followed by inflation, protecting democracy, immigration, health care, crime and safety, abortion, gun violence, appointments to the Supreme Court, the Israel-Hamas war, and race relations.
Harris sought to shore up support on the economy by laying out multiple proposals Friday aimed at curtailing the cost of living, including a national ban on so-called “price-gouging,” a $25,000 tax credit for first-time home purchasers, a beefed up $6,000 child tax credit, and more.
Trump and many economists panned her policy against what she described as “price-gouging,” suggesting her campaign’s description of the proposal seemed more akin to price controls.
When voters were asked about their running mates, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) scored a higher favorability rating than Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) with 52% strongly or somewhat approving of the Democratic VP nominee and 45% saying the same about the GOP VP nominee.
In a significant boost for Democrats, satisfaction with their candidate has skyrocketed, jumping from 20% being satisfied with the Biden v Trump option to 60% with the Harris v Trump option, per the poll.
Overall, Harris appears to be corralling the Democratic base more effectively than Biden.
The Post-ABC-Ipsos poll also found Harris with a 25 percentage point advantage over Trump with voters under the age of 40, while Biden had a 7-point edge. Among black voters, Harris nabbed 83% support up from Biden’s 79% support.
Other polls have gauged similar trends.
Harris is leading Trump nationally in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of national polling by 1.2 points for a two-way race. In a five-way race, that lead jumps to 1.5 points.
Recent polls have given mixed results as to whether or not the inclusion of third-party contenders in a national matchup benefits Harris more than Trump. When Biden was at the top of the ticket, it generally juiced Trump’s numbers a smidge.
In the RCP’s no-tossup Electoral College map, Trump eked out a win with 276 votes to 262, indicating that the race is a nail-biter.
The Post-ABC-Ipsos poll was conducted between Aug. 9 to 13 among 1,901 registered voters and 2,336 adults. For registered voters, it had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points and for adults, the margin of error was 2 points.
Harris is set to trek down to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention this week. She officially became the party’s nominee earlier this month in a virtual roll call, so the proceedings will be ceremonial.
But Democrats are hoping the convention will give her another boost just shy of 80 days out from election night.
