In a recent national poll, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are nearly tied, while independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has seen his support fall to single digits.
The Pew Research Center survey, released on Wednesday, shows Harris with 46 percent support among registered voters, closely followed by Trump at 45 percent. Kennedy has garnered 7 percent of the vote, with 1 percent choosing none or other.
Despite Harris’s surge, Trump has downplayed her rise
Harris’s entry into the presidential race after President Biden’s withdrawal appears to have impacted Kennedy, whose support has dropped by more than half from 15 percent last month, according to Pew Research. Trump led Biden 44 percent to 40 percent in the same survey last month.
Harris’s momentum has been particularly noticeable in battleground states, where her replacement of Biden on the Democratic ticket has energized the party’s base. Various polls indicate that Harris has closed the gap that Trump had maintained over Biden.
Despite Harris’s surge, Trump has downplayed it, suggesting that it may just be a “honeymoon” phase.
The Pew Research survey also found that 62 percent of Harris supporters and 64 percent of Trump supporters are strongly committed to their candidate. This is an increase for the Democratic ticket compared to last month when only 43 percent of Biden supporters strongly backed him.
Voter motivation is high among both camps, with 70 percent of Harris supporters and 72 percent of Trump supporters indicating they are “extremely motivated” to vote in November.
According to the Decision Desk HQ/The Hill national polling average, Harris leads Trump with 48.2 percent support to Trump’s 46.8 percent. When third-party candidates are included, Harris’s lead widens to 47.3 percent, compared to Trump’s 43.5 percent, with Kennedy at 3.1 percent.
The Pew Research Center survey was conducted from August 5-11 among 9,201 adults, including 7,569 registered voters, with a margin of error of 1.3 percentage points for the full sample.
