 "People watch the presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10, 2024, at the Gipsy Las Vegas in Las Vegas. (Photo: AP)")
In the 2024 US presidential election campaign’s final days, Republican nominee Donald Trump appears to be flipping Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ lead.
Former President Trump has a lead of 2 per cent over Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the latest poll by Wall Street Journal.
The poll found that 47 per cent voters supported Trump and 45 per cent favoured Harris.
Even though Trump has now flipped the lead, Journal noted that the lead is within the margin of error and the election can still go either way.
While Trump was ahead of President Joe Biden when he was the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for months, Harris flipped the lead when she took over the Democratic ticket. As she revitalised the Democratic campaign, she stayed ahead of Trump for months, but that lead has begun to fade in latest polls.
Over the past week, the Decision Desk HQ-The Hill forecast said that Trump had a 52 per cent chance of winning compared to Harris’ 48 per cent, the Economist forecast said that Trump had a 56 per cent chance of winning compared to Harris’ 46, and Fox News’ latest poll showed that 50 per cent voters supported Trump compared 48 per cent supporting Harris.
Since August, Harris’ view appears to have turned negative among voters whereas view of Trump appears to have improved, noted Journal’s Aaron Zitner.
The poll suggests that the surge in negative advertising and performance of the candidates themselves have undermined some of the positive impressions of Harris among voters in the immediate aftermath of her replacing Biden on the Democratic ticket, noted Zitner.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIn August, equal shares of voters viewed Harris favourably and unfavourably, but now her unfavorable views lead by 8 per cent, according to the Journal’s poll.
On approval of their tenures as president and vice president respectively, voters had a 4-point positive rating for Trump and a 12-point negative rating for Harris, according to the poll.
However, the election remains too broad to be called with a lot of variables. For example, even as the Fox poll shows Trump having a 2 per cent lead, it showed Harris having a 6 per cent lead in swing states that will actually decide the election.