Donald Trump appears to have gained support from independent voters following independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrawing from the race last week and endorsing the former president, a poll released Wednesday showed.
The Economist/YouGov poll of 1,555 U.S. adults, including 1,368 registered voters, taken Aug. 25-27 showed that 42% of registered voters who identified as independents favored Trump, compared with 37% who favored his Democrat opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points.
It is a bit of good news for the Trump campaign given that Harris has closed the gap or overtaken the former president in several battleground state polls.
The latest poll showed that Harris is favored over Trump by a 47%-45% margin overall by registered voters, with 1% each going to Jill Stein and "other," and 5% not sure. In the last Economist/YouGov poll released before the Democratic National Convention, Harris had a lead of 3 percentage points (46%-43%), proving she did not gain a convention bounce.
The poll showed 53% of registered independent voters said they would not consider voting for Harris while 55% said they would consider voting for Trump.
Among all U.S. adults polled, 47% said they would prefer Trump as president vs. 46% who said they would prefer Harris, while 6% said they preferred both equally. Among registered voters, 49% said they preferred Harris, vs. 48% who preferred Trump and 3% who preferred both equally.
Also, 37% of all U.S. adults polled said they believed Trump will win the election in November against 36% who picked Harris, while 27% said they were unsure. Among registered voters, 40% said Harris will win vs. 34% who picked Trump and 26% who said they were unsure.