Vice President Kamala Harris is virtually tied with former President Donald Trump in a new poll released Thursday, showing she is quickly closing the deficit that forced President Biden out of the race with the GOP nominee.
A New York Times/Siena College poll revealed that Ms. Harris trails Mr. Trump 48% to 47% among likely voters. However, that is a marked improvement compared to Mr. Biden, who was trailing Mr. Trump by six percentage points before he dropped out of the race on Sunday.
The poll is one of the first major surveys released since Ms. Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee this week.
Among registered voters, Mr. Trump leads Ms. Harris nationally, 48% to 46%. Mr. Trump had led Mr. Biden by nine percentage points in early July.
The poll also revealed that Ms. Harris has strong support among voters under 30, a demographic Mr. Biden had struggled with. Among voters under 30, Ms. Harris has about 60% support, and she leads Mr. Trump by 10 points with voters under 45.
Mr. Trump had a slight edge over Mr. Biden with voters under 45.
The poll surveyed voters nationwide, so it’s still unclear the impact Ms. Harris’s candidacy will have in battleground states. However, the poll found that she was receiving overwhelming support from Democrats with 93%, the same share that Mr. Trump has received from Republicans.
Since becoming the likely Democratic nominee, the country’s view of Ms. Harris has improved, with her favorability rating rising ten percentage points over its level in February. Her favorability rating now stands at 46%, just behind Mr. Trump at 48%, but ahead of Mr. Biden, who stood at 43% just before he bowed out of the race.
The poll surveyed 1,142 registered voters across the country from July 22-24 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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