Harris gains 6-point lead over Trump among likely voters, ex-prez holds edge among males: Poll

As the race for the White House intensifies, US Vice President Kamala Harris has managed to gain a 6-point lead against former President Donald Trump in the latest poll, reflecting the support of the likely voters in the upcoming 2024 US Presidential Elections. The Democratic presidential nominee has taken the lead over her Republican rival in at least nine surveys that were taken after the Democratic National Convention.

According to the ABC News/Ipsos poll which was published on Sunday, Harris edged Trump out 50 per cent to 46 per cent among all adults and registered voters. Her lead widened when it came to the likely voters survey, in which 52 per cent of respondents said that they would support Harris against the 46 per cent supporting Trump.

The poll was taken on August 23-27 and reflected the “essentially unchanged” four-point edge of Harris among registered voters. Last time the same poll awarded a 5-point lead to the US Vice President among the likely voters.

‘Statistically unchanged’: Pollsters 

Following the release of the survey the pollsters noted that the findings are similar and statistically unchanged from another poll conducted in August. Meanwhile, the Outward Intelligence Survey also reflected that Harris was up more than five points in both two-way (52.6 per cent to 47.4 per cent) and five-way (49.5 per cent to 44 per cent) matchups with third-party candidates on the ballot.

While polls did not show Harris gaining major momentum recently, the figures were still better in comparison to the numbers reflected in polls conducted before the 2024 DNC. According to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll before the convention, Harris had 49 per cent of support among registered voters, while Trump had 45 per cent.

The figures based on gender reflected a different story. Harris led by 13 points among women — 54 per cent to 41 per cent — while Trump led by 5 points among men — 51 per cent to 46 per cent. Before the convention, Harris was up 6 points among women, pollsters noted.

The Harris campaign also garnered major support from the respondents. The vice president fared better when it came to campaigns, with 56 per cent of Americans stating she had done an excellent or good job running her campaign. About 41 per cent said the same for Trump, indicating that most respondents had unfavourable opinions about the way the campaign was heading.

Where did Trump do well? 

Meanwhile, the former president outperformed Harris on trust over key issues, including the economy and inflation, where he led by 8 points in each category. He also had a 9-point lead over Harris when it came to dealing with the US-Mexico border crisis.

However, Harris was still viewed as more trustworthy than Trump in regards to “protecting American democracy” and Supreme Court appointments. It is pertinent to note that the ABC News/Ipsos poll involved 2,496 completed interviews. The margin of sampling error is 2.1 percentage points at the 95 per cent confidence level.