WASHINGTON: A new poll confirmed on Sunday that Kamala Harris – soon to be announced as her vice-presidential pick – is tied with Donald Trump, upending a White House race the Republican had been increasingly confident of. that will win.
With the Nov. 5 election fast approaching, Harris has chipped away at the growing lead Trump had before President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid.
According to a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday, Harris has a one percentage point lead over Trump nationwide — compared to Trump's previous five-point lead over Biden.
In the swing states that decide the Electoral College race in the US election, Harris and Trump – who shocked the world with his 2016 presidential victory but were defeated by Biden in 2020 – are tied.
Those are good numbers for a Democratic candidate who parachuted into the race just last month, when Biden served a second term at age 81 amid growing concerns about his mental sobriety and fitness.
But Harris, who is Biden's vice president and the first black and South Asian woman in the position, is trying to define herself to voters before Trump.
A key moment in the process will be when Harris announces her choice to run in a historic bid to become America's first female president.
Amy Walters, a pollster at the Cook Political Report, told CBS News: “This is his first major decision as an executive director, so it tells you about his thought process.”
The CBS poll, which echoes several other polls showing Harris' rapid gains, shows Trump remains popular with voters on the key issue of the economy.
Only 25 percent said they expected to be better off financially if Harris won, compared to 45 percent for Trump.
Still, when it comes to trusting the candidates' temperaments, the poll shows voters prefer the former California attorney general to Trump, a convicted felon who publicly insulted his opponents — including during his presidency. – Has done professional work.
The poll shows that the issue of cognitive health that used to annoy Biden is now a problem for the 78-year-old Trump. Only 51 percent of respondents thought Trump was mentally fit to be president, compared to 64 percent for Harris.
“Democrats believe that if you make this a referendum on Trump instead of a referendum on the current state of the economy, then we have a real chance to win,” Cook said.
Trump was on a political high last month after surviving an assassination attempt at a rally and then used the Republican convention to project his image of strength against a physically frail Biden.
But with Biden's dramatic exit and Harris' fast start, he's struggling to readjust.
At a rally in Georgia on Saturday, Trump called Harris a “Marxist” and “extreme left” and claimed he would cause “an economic collapse.” On Wednesday, he shocked many when he told an audience of black journalists that Harris was “blackened” for political expediency.
Where Biden has often attacked Trump as a threat to democracy given his unprecedented refusal to concede defeat in 2020, Harris' team has developed a sharper line centered around calling Trump “weird” and his deputy, J.D. Vance, made.
On Saturday, Harris' campaign said Trump was afraid to debate him after rejecting a previously scheduled televised debate on ABC, while saying he would be open to debating him on Fox News – a network he has for years He was supportive. .
Who will he choose as a colleague?
All roads to the White House go through several swing states, and Harris will begin his five-day campaign Tuesday in the largest — Pennsylvania — as he builds momentum for his Nov. 5 showdown with Republican Donald Trump.
Expectations are that Harris will pick a white man to balance the ticket — and possibly a moderate Democrat to help counter Republican attacks on Harris as too far left.
The three figures at the top of the short list — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona — all visited Harris in Washington on Sunday, the Washington Post reported.
“At this moment, we are faced with a choice between two visions for our nation: one focused on the future and one focused on the past… This campaign is about people coming together with love for country to fight for the best. Who we are?” We are,” he posted on X.
After winning enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination, the nation's first female, black and South Asian vice president will enter the national convention in Chicago in two weeks with full control of her party.
In a nearly two-week campaign, the 59-year-old former prosecutor has broken fundraising records, drawn large crowds and dominated social media ahead of President Joe Biden's exit. surpass the competition.
Next on the agenda is the vice-presidential pick, which is expected to be announced any time before he meets with a mystery candidate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's largest city, on Tuesday evening.
The Keystone State is the most valuable real estate among the battlegrounds that determine the Electoral College system.
It's part of the “blue wall” that carried Biden to the White House in 2020, along with Michigan and Wisconsin — two states where Harris is slated to draw crowds on Wednesday.
Pennsylvania is run by Shapiro, a 51-year-old Democrat who leads the so-called “veepstakes” slate.
Later in the week, Harris will visit the more racially diverse states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina as he seeks to shore up the black and Hispanic vote that has drifted away from Democrats.
Just a month ago, Trump was in control of Cruz, and after a disastrous Biden debate, he had a significant lead in state polls, leaving the Republican tycoon with the country in suspense over his choice of running mate. .
Trump's bid for the White House ended on July 21 when the 81-year-old Biden, facing growing concerns about his age and low poll numbers, dropped out and endorsed Harris.
The vice president, energetic and two decades younger than the 78-year-old Trump, is off to a flying start, raising $310 million in July, according to his campaign — more than twice as much as Trump.
While Biden made lofty calls to return to civility and preserve democracy, Harris has focused on the future and made voter “freedom” a touchstone of his campaign.
He and his allies have also been more aggressive than the Biden camp — mocking Trump for reneging on his Sept. 10 debate commitment and describing the convicted felon as an old, “weird” crook.
While Harris has denied some of the leftist positions he took during his ill-fated 2020 campaign, Harris has not given extensive interviews since entering the race, and marchers sought more details. about his plans for the competition. Country.
Trump and his fellow Republicans, meanwhile, have struggled to adapt to their new enemy or to ramp up their attacks on Harris — initially signaling that he is dangerously liberal on immigration and crime, before saying that he is “very liberal” on black people. Being lies.
