The 2024 US presidential election is just around the corner. Meanwhile, Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris is far ahead of rival Republican candidate Donald Trump in popularity. The news agency Reuters and polling firm IPSOS published their survey results on Thursday. Kamala is four points ahead of the rival Republican candidate. While Trump’s popularity is 41 percent, Kamala Harris’s is 45 percent. However, he is 2 points ahead of Kamala Harris in swing states.
President Joe Biden has withdrawn his candidacy from the Democratic Party in the US presidential election. After this, voters showed renewed enthusiasm around Vice President Kamala Harris. The calculation of competition has also changed. Where Trump was ahead of Biden, Kamala is now outpacing Trump. Kamala confirmed the party nomination at the Democratic National Convention last week. Since then, the electoral contest has intensified.
The news agency Reuters surveyed registered voters in the United States. Earlier, Kamala Harris was ahead of Trump in the Reuters and IPSOS survey conducted at the end of last July. But then, the difference between them was 3 points. That means Kamala widened the gap by 1 point in the previous month. Reuters conducted the new survey over eight days. It found support for Kamala Harris increased among women and Hispanic voters.
According to the new survey, Kamala’s approval rating among women and Hispanic voters is 49 percent. On the other hand, Trump’s approval rating is 36 percent. That is, the gap between Kamala and Trump is 13 percent. Earlier last July, in a survey by Reuters and IPSOS, Kamala was ahead of him by 9 points among women and Hispanic voters. She has widened the gap by 4 percent in the last month.
However, Trump is more popular among white and male voters than Kamala. The gap did not increase much between last July and August. However, Kamala has reduced this gap by 7 percent among voters with a college degree.
The survey revealed how much the competition for the US presidential election has changed since Biden stepped down on July 21. Biden stepped down due to the destructive results of the debate with Trump. Since then, Kamala has gained popularity in US national polls and polls in crucial swing states.
National polls, including Reuters and IPSOS, provide essential insights into voter opinion. However, each state’s electoral votes are important in determining the leader of the upcoming presidential election. In this case, several oscillatory states become essential. Earlier in the 2020 presidential election, the candidates contested in seven swing states. These states are Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada. Trump has a 2-point lead over Kamala Harris in these states in a poll of registered voters. His popularity in these states is 45 percent and Kamala Harris’s 43 percent.
Running against Kamala Harris is more challenging for Trump but not impossible. Matt Wolking, a Republican campaign strategist who worked with him in 2020, opined about the change in poll results. Matt also said that Trump needs to focus on his election campaign as much as possible now. Those who turned to him because they don’t like Biden should not be afraid; he should see that.
Seventy-three percent of Democratic voters said they were motivated to vote in the November election after Harris was nominated. In previous polls, only 61 percent of voters expressed enthusiasm for voting for Biden.
In this survey, we have seen that more people are encouraged to vote than before. They see Kamala Harris as the future president. Republicans see this election as just about Trump. Giving people a chance to do something other than defeat Trump will make people more attracted to it. Aimee Allison, founder of ‘She the People,’ an organization working with women voters, expressed such an opinion.
However, regarding enthusiasm, Trump’s voters are not far behind. Sixty-four percent of voters said they were more motivated to support him than to oppose Harris.
Among voters, Trump is far ahead of Kamala in managing the US economy. Forty-five percent of voters think he is more qualified to handle the economy. In the case of Kamala Harris, this support is only 36 percent. But on abortion policy, Kamala Harris will have more leverage than him. While Trump’s support is 31 percent, Kamala Harris’s is 47 percent.
The Reuters and IPSOS surveyed 4,253 people, including 3,562 registered voters. Independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. was campaigning at that time. However, on August 23, he withdrew from the election to support Trump. In the survey, 6 percent of voters supported him.