While Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris carries a nationwide polling lead at 3 points in the latest CBS News poll Sunday, she is in a dead heat with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the seven battleground states.
Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are the states widely considered the swing states that will decide the election, but the CBS News polling shows there is nothing decided in the 50-50 dead heat.
With the Democratic National Convention being held in Chicago this week, voters are going to get a better gauge on how Harris stacks up against Trump. While nearly 90% of voters know Trump's positions, around a third are still unsure about where Harris stands, according to the poll.
A majority of those who see her views as closely aligned with those of President Joe Biden are voting for Trump in the poll.
But Harris does better with voters who see her views are not entirely aligned with Biden. Harris and the Democratic Party are going to try to capitalize on distancing themselves from Biden and the policies of the past 3½ years, according to many political analysts.
"Americans just don't buy the idea that Kamala Harris, who's been vice president for 3½ years is somehow going to tackle the inflation crisis in a way tomorrow that she hasn't for the past 1,300 days," Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, told "Fox News Sunday" host Shannon Bream. "Giving Kamala Harris control over inflation policy, Shannon, it's like giving Jeffrey Epstein control over human trafficking policy.
"The American people are much smarter than that. They don't buy the idea that Kamala Harris represents a fresh start. She is more of the same.
"It is doubling down on the failed policies of the Harris administration to give Kamala Harris a promotion rather than to fire her, which is what most Americans are going to do in November."
The CBS News/YouGov poll was conducted among 3,258 registered voters nationwide Aug. 14-16. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.