Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are still in a stalemate just under seven weeks before the November 5 US presidential election, according to fresh polls released on Thursday. These polls also indicate a close contest in the crucial state of Pennsylvania. The surveys revealed that likely and registered voters awarded higher ratings to Democrat Harris in last week's debate against her Republican rival. However, the race, especially in the battleground state, remains tight, consistent with other polling data.
In the national poll, Harris and Trump were tied at 47% among the 2,437 likely voters surveyed from September 11-16, according to a survey conducted by The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Siena College. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. In Pennsylvania, one of the seven critical battleground states, Harris retained her 4-point lead, with 50% to 46%, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points, as per the Times poll.
Separate findings from The Washington Post also showed a close race between the candidates in Pennsylvania, which, along with Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, is considered likely to determine the outcome of November's election. Among 1,003 Pennsylvania likely and registered voters surveyed from September 12-16, 48% said they would vote for Harris, while 47% said they would vote for Trump—a 1-point difference within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
The majority of those polled by the Post said they were 'extremely motivated' to vote and that protecting American democracy was 'extremely important.' However, voters were divided on which candidate would best safeguard the nation's freedoms, with 48% choosing Harris and 45% choosing Trump. This issue is significant as Harris, a former prosecutor and state attorney general, aims to maintain the Democrats' hold on the White House after Biden withdrew his re-election bid in July. Trump, who faces four criminal cases, continues to falsely assert that his 2020 election loss to Biden was due to fraud.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing. The NYT/Inquirer/Siena poll also found that US democracy, along with the economy, abortion, and immigration, was a major concern for voters, with preferences for either candidate largely unchanged. Reuters/Ipsos polling last week showed Harris with a 5-percentage-point lead among registered voters, leading Trump 47% to 42%.
