Harris edges Trump by 2 points in new national poll

Vice President Harris edged out her rival, former President Trump, by 2 points in a national poll released Thursday. 

The new NPR/PBS News/Marist survey found Harris outpacing the former president 50 percent to 48 percent among likely voters nationally, a lead within the poll’s margin of error. The Democratic nominee had a 3-point lead, 50 percent to 47 percent, among registered voters. 

Trump, the GOP nominee, had an advantage with independents who are likely to vote, getting 50 percent to Harris’s 46 percent, according to the survey. 

The survey showed the gender gap widening. Nearly 6 in 10 men, 57 percent, supported Trump, while 41 percent backed the vice president. Harris led the ex-president with women, amassing 58 percent support to Trump’s 40 percent. 

“Under the hood, the gender gap continues to widen and, at this rate, the gender gap in this year’s election results will likely outpace what it has been historically,” said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. 

Preserving democracy at 64 percent, the economy at 59 percent, and immigration at 44 percent were the top three issues impacting whom registered voters will back in the 2024 White House contest, according to the poll. 

About 51 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of Trump, while some 45 percent had the opposite view. Approximately 47 percent had a favorable view of Harris; the same amount also found her unfavorable. 

More than half of the poll’s respondents, 58 percent, said they were “very concerned or concerned” about voter fraud happening in this year’s election. Among party lines, Republicans (86 percent) and independents (55 percent) were significantly more concerned about voter fraud than Democrats (33 percent), according to the survey. 

About 2 in 3 Americans, 66 percent, said they were concerned about foreign countries interfering in the 2024 election. Approximately 59 percent of Americans agreed that immigrants in the country illegally should be deported, representing an 8-point uptick from March when it was at 41 percent. 

Harris had a 3-point lead, 48 percent to 45 percent, over Trump in the latest The Economist/YouGov survey released this week. 

The Democratic nominee holds a 4.2 percentage point lead over the ex-president nationally, 50.2 percent to 46 percent, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s tally of polls. 

The NPR/PBS News/Marist poll was conducted from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1. Pollsters asked 1,514 registered voters, and the margin of error was 3.5 percentage points. Among 1,294 likely voters, the margin of error was 3.7 percentage points.