WASHINGTON: A bit more than 48 hours before Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump battle it out for the first time on a Philadelphia debate stage, a new poll shows the two opponents essentially neck and neck, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
But the poll, conducted by the New York Times and Sienna College and released on Sunday, set off some warning signs for Harris, including that 71 per cent said they know what they need to know about her, compared to 90 per cent for Trump.
The two face each other in a debate hosted by the ABC television network on Tuesday at 9 pm (0100 GMT).
Overall the survey of likely voters showed Trump with 48 per cent compared to Harris with 47 per cent. Looking at all registered voters, Harris is at 46 per cent and Trump at 48 per cent, which is within the 3 per cent margin of error.
The newspaper noted that while Trump has had a tough month following US President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race, his support is remarkably stable. But that these results show that support for Trump has not dwindled should be a warning sign to Harris, the paper suggested.
In the run-up to the presidential election on November 5, just about every new poll makes headlines in the United States.
The current poll is being watched particularly closely because it shows a lead for Trump in a major non-partisan national poll for the first time in around a month.
However, it is impossible to say for certain at this stage whether support for Harris has faltered or if the hype surrounding her has died down since she entered the race – or both. More polls are needed for that.
An analysis by US broadcaster CNN of several polls conducted since the Democratic Party convention in August also shows a close race between 59-year-old Harris and 78-year-old Trump, with no clear frontrunner.
According to these polls, Harris has 49 per cent support, while Trump has 47 per cent.
In the complicated US electoral system, national surveys are just one barometer of public opinion.
Most observers are focusing on the so-called swing states, which include Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and a handful of others.
The two candidates are roughly tied in these key electorates. – BERNAMA-dpa
