The latest polls are in, and former President Donald Trump is still leading Vice President Kamala Harris. Although the Democratic candidate has significantly improved on the polling record of her boss, President Joe Biden, she remains unpopular on issues of the greatest importance to voters.
The latest Harvard CAPS/Harris survey shows Trump leading Harris in a head-to-head race by three points, with 48% of surveyed voters backing the former president and 45% siding with the vice president, while 7% haven’t made up their minds yet who to support. Just last month, before Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Trump was up by seven points. However, when undecided voters are asked to pick a candidate, Trump leads Harris by four points, the same margin by which he led Biden last month.
A clear majority (79%) of voters agreed that Biden retiring his reelection bid was the right thing for him to do, but most are dissatisfied with the Democratic Party’s seeming coronation of Harris as Biden’s successor. Nearly 60% of voters (including 60% of Independents) say that there “should have been more competition” to name a Democratic nominee, but nearly three quarters of Democrats said that it’s “important to show unity and coalesce behind Harris.”
Additionally, a majority (53%) of voters believe Harris will lose against Trump in November. Well over 80% of Republicans and nearly 60% of Independents don’t envision Harris winning, but 82% of Democrats do. More voters say that Harris has the “right temperament” for the White House than Trump (45% for Harris, 35% for Trump), but significantly more voters say that Trump is “a fighter,” will “get things done,” has “the right priorities” and “the right policies,” will “put the country first,” and is “qualified to serve as President.” Over two-thirds of voters also see Harris as a mere continuation of the policies and agendas of the Biden administration.
As in previous polls, inflation (37%) and immigration (33%) were rated as the most important issues for voters heading into November. Especially on immigration, Harris performs poorly. A clear majority of 68% of voters (including 49% of Democrats) reported that they do not support open borders. Yet 69% of voters (including 56% of Democrats) said that Harris supports open borders policies.
Another survey, from YouGov/Times, found that most Americans believe Harris was heavily involved in covering up Biden’s cognitive decline. A majority (54%) of voters said that they believe there was a “cover-up” over Biden’s failing health and mental state, and 68% of those voters said that Harris had been involved a “great deal” in that cover-up.
Harris has taken heat for her far-left policies, recently attacking Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), for supporting the popular Child Tax Credit. According to a recent report from The New York Times, the Harris campaign is aware of the unpopularity of many of the policies she has endorsed over the years, and the vice president is now “changing her position” on several issues, including securing the border. Harris has also changed her position on fracking, gun control programs, and the idea of a “single-payer health insurance program,” according to anonymous campaign officials cited by NYT. However, neither Harris nor her campaign have made official statements confirming these position changes, as of this writing.
According to a now-scrubbed GovTrack page, Harris had the furthest-left voting record out of any Democrat in the Senate, even further left than self-declared socialist Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who honeymooned in Moscow during the Cold War. The Trump campaign has already been hammering Harris on her left-wing record in campaign ads, often using video footage of Harris herself discussing such issues as illegal immigration. Democrats in swing states have noted that Harris’s far-left record will not help her against Trump.
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.
