Harris widens lead over Trump in postdebate poll

Vice President Harris has widened her lead over former President Trump in a survey conducted after they clashed at their Tuesday debate.

The Morning Consult poll found Harris leading by 5 points after the high-stakes ABC debate, ticking up from the 3- and 4-point leads she held in the same survey before the event in Philadelphia.

If the election were held today, 50 percent of respondents said they would cast their ballot for Harris, up from 49 percent who were polled before the debate.

Trump, on the other hand, lost support. Ahead of the debate, 46 percent of respondents said they would cast their ballot for the former president if the election were held today. After Tuesday’s debate, that decreased to 45 percent.

A majority of Harris’s support comes from Democrats, but she leads Trump among independent voters with 46 percent support to his 40 percent, the survey found.

“It’s too early to say whether Harris’ debate performance is the key driver of our latest head-to-head numbers, as our short-term trends suggest she was already building momentum ahead of Tuesday’s televised match-up,” Morning Consult analysts wrote.

Still, that debate performance, which was widely seen as successful, will help her sustain that momentum, they wrote.

Harris and Trump met for the first time on the debate stage in Philadelphia, where they sparred over key issues including abortion and immigration.

Other short-term polling found that Harris won the debate after she repeatedly baited Trump into shouting and spreading conspiracy theories.

Trump became visibly angry and refused to make eye contact with Harris.

The debate was seen as a critical moment for the vice president, who needed to introduce her policy ideas to voters and present a stark contrast between her and Trump.

The Morning Consult survey was conducted Wednesday among at least 3,317 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.