Ahead of the US presidential election this November, Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris has significantly surpassed her Republican rival Donald Trump in popularity. A poll conducted by Reuters news agency and polling firm Ipsos on Thursday shows that Kamala is four points ahead of her rival Trump. While Trump’s popularity is at 41 percent, Kamala’s popularity is at 45 percent. However, in swing states, Trump is 2 points ahead of Kamala.
After current President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy from the Democratic Party for the US presidential election, there has been renewed enthusiasm among voters surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris. The competitive landscape has also changed. Where Trump was ahead of Biden, Kamala is now surpassing Trump. Kamala secured the party nomination at the Democratic National Convention last week. Since then, the electoral competition has intensified.
Reuters conducted a survey among registered voters in the United States. In the previous Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted at the end of last July, Kamala Harris was also ahead of Trump. However, the gap between them was 3 points at that time. In other words, Kamala has increased the gap by another 1 point over the past month. The new survey was conducted over eight days. It shows that support for Kamala has increased among women and Hispanic voters.
The new survey shows that Kamala’s popularity among women and Hispanic voters is 49 percent, while Trump’s popularity is 36 percent. That means the gap between Trump and Kamala is 13 percent. In the previous Reuters/Ipsos poll in July, Kamala was 9 points ahead of Trump among women and Hispanic voters. She has increased the gap by 4 percent over the past month.
However, Trump is ahead of Kamala in popularity among white and male voters. This gap didn’t increase much between last July and August. But Kamala has reduced this gap by 7 percent among college-educated voters.
The survey reveals how much the competition for the US presidential election has changed since Biden stepped aside. Biden stepped aside on July 21 following poor debate performance against Trump. Since then, Kamala has quickly gained popularity in national polls and polls in important swing states.
National polls, including Reuters/Ipsos, provide important insights into voter opinions. However, the electoral votes of each state are crucial in determining the winner of the US presidential election. In this case, several swing states become important. In the previous 2020 presidential election, there was intense competition in seven swing states.”
“These states are Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, and Nevada. In polls conducted among registered voters in these swing states, Trump is leading Kamala Harris by 2 points. Trump’s popularity in these states is 45%, while Kamala’s is 43%.
Previously, Matt Oczkowski, a strategist who worked with Trump’s Republican campaign in 2020, said,
‘Looking at the change in poll results, it’s clear that fighting against Kamala Harris is more challenging for Trump, but not insurmountable.’
Matt further added,
“Now Trump needs to be as focused as possible on his election campaign. He needs to ensure that those who didn’t like Biden and were leaning towards him don’t get scared away.”
After receiving the party nomination last week, Kamala Harris is visiting Georgia, known as a swing state.
73% of Democratic voters who participated in the poll said they are more enthusiastic about voting in the November election now that Harris is the candidate. In the previous poll, only 61% of voters expressed enthusiasm for voting for Biden.
Amy Allison, founder of She the People, an organization working with women voters, says,
‘In this poll, we’ve seen that many more are enthusiastic about voting. They see Kamala Harris as a future president. Republicans only see this election in terms of Trump. If people are given the opportunity to do something other than just defeating Trump, they will be even more attracted to it.’
However, Trump’s voters are not far behind in terms of enthusiasm. 64% of voters said they are more inspired by supporting Trump than opposing Harris.
Trump is far ahead of Kamala in managing the U.S. economy among voters. 45% of voters believe Trump is more capable of handling the economy. For Kamala, this support is only 36%. However, Harris will have more advantage over Trump on abortion policy. Where Trump’s support is 31%, Kamala’s is 47%.
This Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted among 4,253 people, of whom 3,562 were registered voters. During the poll, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was campaigning. However, on August 23, he announced his withdrawal from the election, supporting Trump. 6% of voters in the poll expressed support for him.”
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