Donald Trump v Kamala Harris: Republican presidential nominee and former United States President Donald Trump, and Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris are facing-off in their first debate today (September 10 local time / September 11 IST).
Hosted by ABC ahead of the November 2024 US Presidential elections, the debate is taking place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. In IST that is 6:30 am today, September 11.
Amid the debate, we check at where both candidates are in terms of favour among US voters. While Trump was leading widely when contesting against US President Joe Biden, Harris taking over the campaign brought about a reversal of sorts. So, did that initial momentum for Harris sustain into steady lead? We take a look.
Now, Harris and Trump are locked in a “tight contest”, as per multiple voter polls conducted on September 10, Hindustan Times reported.
Americans are slightly more likely to trust Trump over Harris when it comes to handling the economy, according to an AP-NORC poll from August, AP reported.
The New York Times/Siena College poll released on September 8 found 28 per cent of likely voters said they needed to know more about Harris, while just 9 per cent said that of Trump, Bloomberg reported.
Further, over six out of 10 likely voters said the next president should represent a major change from Joe Biden — something Harris has struggled with, the Bloomberg report added. And just a quarter of those surveyed in the NYT/Siena poll said Harris represented that change, while 53 per cent said Trump did.
The NYT/Siena poll showed Trump leading Harris 48%–47% among 1,695 registered voters. The poll was conducted from September 3-6. Notably, while Trump is only leading by 1 per cent, the margin of error on the poll is 2.8 percentage points, the HT report said.
In a win on the Emerson College poll, Harris has a small lead on Trump 49%-47%. Of those surveyed, 3 per cent said they are uncertain, and 1 percent want to vote for a different candidate, the report added.
Next, the Morning Consult and FiveThirtyEight polls also showed Harris leading Trump 49%-46% and 47.1%-44.3%, respectively.
In swing states Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the YouGov poll shows Harris v Trump at 50%-49%, 50%-50%, and 51%-49%, respectively.
Another poll conducted by the Washington Post showed Harris and Trump each leading in three out of seven swing states. For Harris, these three states are Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. For Trump, it is Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, HT reported. The WaPo poll collates data from state and national surveys and considers the last two election winners from a given state.
Notably, polls in 2016 and 2020 had under registered support for Trump during those elections, so the numbers being so close is very little comfort to Harris' campaign.
(With inputs from Agencies)
