Pollster John McLaughlin told Newsmax Wednesday that despite the craziness of the past month, former President Donald Trump maintains a lead over Vice President Kamala Harris similar to the one he had over President Joe Biden.
Appearing on "Prime News," McLaughlin said Harris is simply capturing the same vote Biden had before he ended his reelection bid.
The new national survey from McLaughlin and Associates, ending July 29 shows Trump leading Harris 47% to 45%. The poll shows Trump is up 2 percentage points — just as he was in the most recent McLaughlin Associates Poll national poll surveying the Trump versus Biden race.
"We're going to have to go beat her and beat her on the issues," McLaughlin said. "She's more radical than him. She's more incompetent than him. Is she capable of being commander in chief? I don't think so."
Trump's selection of Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio to be his running mate on the Republican ticket reinforced his strengths with working-class and rural voters, McLaughlin said.
"It also helps us in those Rust Belt states where J.D. Vance will connect with voters in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in Pennsylvania, and in Minnesota."
McLaughlin said Minnesota could flip Republican for the first time since 1972, noting Harris supported defunding the police and bailing out people who later committed rape and murder.
"J.D. is a good contrast that reinforces that with Donald Trump to who Kamala Harris will be," McLaughlin said. "The type of vice president she'll pick, they'll cater to the elites."
The national poll of 1,000 likely voters has a plus or minus 3.1% margin of error at a 95% confidence interval was taken between July 23 and July 29.
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