US Vice President Kamala Harris is narrowly beating Republican rival Donald Trump in a national presidential poll released on Tuesday, one of the first conducted since US President Joe Biden dropped out of his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris as his replacement.
The US vice president has a two-point, 44% to 42% lead over Trump, within the margin of error, the Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.
In the previous week’s poll, Harris, 59, and Trump, who at 78 is now the oldest candidate, were tied at 44%.
The new poll was conducted in the two days after Biden announced on Sunday that he was dropping out of the race and endorsing Harris. It also followed last week’s Republican National Convention, where Trump officially accepted the nomination.
Biden announced that he was leaving the race after weeks of growing concerns among Democrats and their supporters over his declining health and perceived ability to defeat former President Donald Trump in November.
Harris, whose campaign claims she has already secured the Democratic nomination, has been raking in donations and endorsements and has set a fundraising record after receiving $81 million in contributions in the first 24 hours after Biden’s withdrawal.
A pollster with Trump’s campaign, however, has downplayed the polling results, arguing that Harris’ performance was bolstered by widespread media coverage of her candidacy and the excitement among Democratic voters about the shakeup in the race.
“That bump is likely to start showing itself over the next few days and will last for a while,” Reuters cited pollster Tony Fabrizio as saying.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll’s results also justified Biden’s withdrawal after 56% of registered voters agreed with the statement that Harris was “mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges,” compared to 49% who said the same of Trump.
Other surveys conducted after the US president abandoned his candidacy revealed that Harris was polling better than Biden but that she still trailed the former president.
A major national survey, the Morning Consult poll, showed the vice president trailing Trump by two percentage points, 47% to 45%, within the margin of error.
In a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll conducted on Monday, Trump held a lead over Harris, with 46% to 45% of US registered voters.
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