According to the latest surveys, US Vice President Kamala Harris, the most likely candidate to replace Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s candidate in the presidential elections to be held on November 5, has narrowed the gap against Donald Trump. Her support among non-white voters and within her party has increased significantly.
What do the surveys say?
The latest Wall Street Journal poll shows Harris leading Trump 49% to 47%. However, the report says this is within a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Earlier this month, Trump held a six-point lead over Biden before dropping out of the race.
Trump leads Harris 48% to 47% among likely voters, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll of 1,142 voters nationwide conducted July 22-24.
This is a significant improvement for Democrats, as data released earlier this month showed Biden trailing by six percentage points.
Furthermore, the survey further states that Trump is currently ahead of Harris 48% to 46% among registered voters. Earlier, he was ahead of Biden by nine percentage points among registered voters.
Harris’s lead has come primarily from parts of the Democratic coalition that were previously upset with Biden.
A month ago, in a New York Times survey, the US President was getting only 59% of black registered voters. But now Harris is expected to get 69% of these votes. Apart from this, Harris has also increased her party’s share of Hispanic voters from 45% to 57% and the share of voters under the age of 30 from 46% to 56%.
According to Bloomberg, an unaudited average of polls conducted after Biden dropped out of the presidential race shows Harris trailing Trump by 1.6 percentage points.
Kamala Harris announces her candidacy
Harris signed the form officially declaring her candidacy for president of the United States on Saturday. She wrote on the X, “I will work hard to win every vote. And in November, our people-powered campaign will win.”
This comes after 81-year-old US President Joe Biden announced his exit from the presidential race on July 21 and endorsed Harris as the party’s nominee. Harris has also received endorsements from former US President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.
The US Vice President has received the support of a majority of Democratic delegates and appears likely to be made the official nominee at the party convention next month.
