Vice President Kamala Harris holds a 5-point lead over former President Donald Trump in the presidential race, according to a new USA Today/Suffolk poll.
Harris, who replaced President Joe Biden as the Democrat nominee, leads Trump, the Republican nominee, 48% to 43%, according to the survey.
The result falls within the USA Today/Suffolk poll's margin of error.
Trump and Harris are scheduled to debate Sept. 10 in an event hosted by ABC News. Many voters — about 1 in 10 — say they might change their mind or are undecided.
Harris' edge in the USA Today/Suffolk survey partly is due to the vice president making inroads on the issues of immigration and national security.
Trump holds a 50% to 47% edge on immigration, but that's down from a 13-point advantage he had over Biden.
The former president also holds a 4-point lead over Harris when it comes to national security and dealing with China, but that's down from 10 points over Biden.
Harris owns double-digit leads of 14 points and 19 points with healthcare and race relations, respectively. Both are larger than the 10-point advantages Biden held.
Trump still holds a nice lead of 51% to 45% when voters are asked about the economy, but that's less than half the 14-point advantage he held over Biden in June.
Democrats also are getting a boost down the ballot.
In June, registered voters said they supported their local Republican congressional candidate over the Democrat by 47% to 45%. Now, likely voters say they support the Democrat over the GOP candidate 48% to 43% — a swing of 7 points.
In terms of enthusiasm for their candidates, Republicans remain solid behind Trump and Democrats have been energized since Harris replaced Biden.
In June, Trump supporters were twice as likely (59% to 30%) as Biden supporters to say they were "very excited" about voting for their candidate.
The former president's support has stayed about the same (60%) while Harris supporters have more than doubled (68%) Biden's standing, the USA Today/Suffolk Poll found.
The issue of election integrity highlighted a big difference between Democrats and Republicans.
Among Harris supporters, 68% say they are "very confident" that ballots will be accurately counted and reported; 29% said they are "somewhat confident"; and 2% are "not confident."
Among Trump supporters, only 11% say they are "very confident" of a fair count; 45% say they're "somewhat confident"; and 42% say they are "not confident."
The USA Today/Suffolk Poll was conducted among 1,000 likely voters by landline and cellphone Aug. 25-28, after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago ended. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.