Kamala Harris Carves Open Six-Point Lead Among Likely Voters: Poll

Vice President Kamala Harris leads former President Donald Trump by six percentage points among likely voters, according to a new poll.

The ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll found Harris leads Trump, 51 percent to 45 percent, in a head-to-head matchup among likely voters. Her lead is slightly smaller among registered voters. Among all adults, she leads Trump by 50 percent to 45 percent.

However, the poll also found that Trump, the Republican nominee, is more trusted on the issues considered most important in November’s election: the economy and inflation.

The Harris and Trump campaigns have been contacted for comment via email.

The poll was conducted online between August 9 and 13 in English and Spanish with a random national sample of 2,336 adults. It has a margin of error of two percentage points.

It comes as the Democratic Party heads into its nominating convention on Monday united behind Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and buoyed by enthusiasm for her candidacy.

She rose to the top of the ticket after President Joe Biden dropped out in late July, after holding on for weeks following a disastrous debate performance by suggesting he had the best chance of any Democrat of beating Trump in November.

Democrats are far more enthusiastic about Harris being their candidate than they were about Biden, the ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll found.

Sixty percent of Harris supporters back her strongly (the same percentage of Trump supporters said they back him strongly), while just 34 percent had said they strongly supported Biden in July.

Meanwhile, 50 percent said they would be enthusiastic or satisfied if Harris won in November, up from 36 percent who said the same about Biden early last year.

Forty-five percent said they would be excited or satisfied if Trump wins a second term as president, up slightly from the 43 percent who said that in early 2023.

The poll also found that Harris was overwhelmingly the candidate that voters say is in good enough health to serve effectively as president (56 percent to Trump’s 26 percent), reversing Trump’s 31-point lead over Biden on the issue from July. Harris has also erased Trump’s 20-point lead over Biden on having the mental sharpness to serve effectively, leading trump by nine points on the issue.

However, the poll also found voters trusted Trump more on the two issues that they said were most important in their decision on which candidate to support: the economy and inflation.

Trump was ahead of Harris by nine points on trust to handle the economy (46 percent to 37 percent) and inflation (45 percent to 36 percent). And 46 percent also said they trusted Trump more on immigration, compared to 36 percent who said the same of Harris.

But Harris leads Trump on issues that ranked higher than immigration: she leads Trump by seven points (43 percent to 36 percent) on health care and on protecting American democracy (43 percent to 37 percent).