Harris leading Trump by 2 points in national poll

Vice President Harris is leading former President Trump by 2 percentage points in a new national poll.

The poll, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, found Harris garnering 44 percent support to Trump’s 42 percent support; 2 percent said they “would support” someone else, 6 percent said they weren’t “sure” about their choice and 6 percent said they “probably won’t vote.”

There are now less than two weeks before the 2024 presidential election, which will follow a chaotic campaign season that featured a major party candidate dropping out and two assassination attempts of Trump.

Other findings in the poll included 7 in 10 respondents saying they are worried about postelection unrest. Of those, 29 percent said they are “very concerned” when it comes to “the possibility of violence associated with” this year’s election, and 42 percent said they are “somewhat concerned.”

After the 2020 election, violence engulfed the day Congress was certifying the results, with riots at the U.S. Capitol. In the poll, 65 percent responded that there is a greater chance of violence if Trump again loses the presidential race.

“Once again, Americans are heading into Election Day with the spectre of violence on their minds,” Alexander Theodoridis, co-director of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll, said in a press release accompanying the poll. “The vast majority of respondents, including both Democrats and Republicans, are deeply concerned about violence related to the 2024 elections, but partisans are polarized regarding what that violence may look like.”

Trump’s thoughts on how to handle his foes, though not specifically on Election Day, has come to the forefront this month.

In an Oct. 13 interview on Fox News, Trump brushed off concerns from President Biden that Election Day wouldn’t be peaceful and said he believes “the bigger problem is the enemy from within.”

He went on to say any problems “should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”

He has since repeated that point.

Harris’s campaign responded that Trump’s remarks should “alarm every American who cares about their freedom and security.”

The University of Massachusetts Amherst poll took place Oct. 11-16, featuring 1,500 people and a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.