Harris leading Trump by 5 points among likely voters: Poll

Vice President Harris is leading former President Trump by 5 points nationally among likely voters, according to a Marist Poll survey released Wednesday.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), received 52 percent support, while Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), received 47 percent support in the poll conducted Oct 8-10. One percent of respondents supported a different candidate.

Harris’s lead has grown since the previous Marist poll, conducted Sept. 27-Oct. 1, when she led Trump by 2 points among likely voters, with 50 percent support to his 48 percent.

The Trump-Vance ticket performs slightly better against the Harris-Walz ticket among registered voters, who back the Democratic ticket over the Republican ticket by 3 points, 51 percent to 48 percent.

A similar 3-point margin separated the tickets in the previous poll in September, when 50 percent of registered voters backed Harris and 47 percent backed Trump.

In the latest poll of likely voters, Trump leads Harris among independents, 54 percent to 44 percent. The 10-point margin has grown from his 4-point edge against Harris in the previous poll.

The latest poll comes less than three weeks before voters head to the polls on Election Day.

“There are two things to keep an eye on in the closing weeks of the presidential contest. First, when you look at those who are likely to vote, Harris does better. So higher turnout favors her,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said in a statement.

“Second, don’t overlook that the gender gap, which is expected to be unusually high, cuts both ways. Trump carries men, and Harris carries women,” Miringoff added.

The race remains neck and neck between the two major party nominees. In the latest Decision Desk HQ/The Hill national polling average, Harris leads Trump by 2.8 percentage points, 49.7 percent to 46.9 percent.

The latest Marist Poll included 1,401 likely voters and had a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.