Kamala Harris is now ahead of Donald Trump in three crucial electoral states, according to new polls published on Saturday, erasing the lead the former president had last year.
Polls of likely voters by The New York Times and Siena College showed Harris leading Trump by similar margins of 50 percent and 46 percent in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Under the US Electoral College voting system, these three highly populous Midwestern states are considered crucial to either party’s victory.
The survey contrasts with polls in those states that for nearly a year have shown Trump tied or slightly ahead of Democratic President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race last month and endorsed Harris instead.
A lot can change in the nearly three months before the election on November 5. Polls have shown that voters still prefer Trump on the key issues of the economy and immigration, although Harris had a 24-point lead when voters were asked who they trusted on the issue of abortion.
In any case, Democrats have been comforted by the enthusiasm they have shown over Harris’s candidacy, with many expressing relief after the 81-year-old Biden withdrew.
When he announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as his vice-presidential candidate on Tuesday, it appeared to have energized Democrats as well.
Harris-Walz’s lead helped offset a surge in support for Trump that followed his assassination attempt on July 13 and the Republican’s successful national convention last month.
But the Times/Siena poll found Harris’s popularity surged even more — rising by 10 points among registered voters in Pennsylvania in just one month.
Voters said they considered him more intelligent than Trump and had a better ability to govern.
Trump, his running mate J.D. Vance and other Republicans have launched a variety of attacks designed to undermine Harris — with Trump even questioning her racial identity.
But new polls show Democrats strongly support the younger and more fiery Harris, who, along with Walz, is campaigning at a rapid pace in key states this week.
Among Democrats, voters’ satisfaction with their choice of candidates has increased by 27 points in three Midwestern states since May, the survey found.
Three months ago, it was Republicans who expressed high levels of satisfaction.
These surveys were conducted between August 5 and 9 among at least 600 voters in each state.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
