She might not be the Democrats’ official candidate yet, but Vice President Kamala Harris is already pulling slightly ahead of former President Donald Trump in a new poll.
President Joe Biden, 81, announced Sunday that he would be dropping out of the race. He has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket. Next month, the party will officially select its candidate during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill.
If Harris does become the candidate, how well is she expected to do against 78-year-old Trump? Biden was polling nearly even with – and sometimes below – the former president, who he beat in the 2020 election.
“If the election for president were held today, among registered voters, Harris (44%) and Trump (42%) would be locked in a race that is too close to call,” said Reuters/Ipsos poll results released Tuesday.
Before he announced his withdrawal from the race Sunday, an earlier Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Trump was leading Biden at 43% to 41%. Harris’ edge over Trump increased (42% to 38%) when third party candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (8%) was thrown in the mix.
NPR/PBS News/Marist National Poll results released the same day showed Trump received 46% to Harris’ 45%. That poll found that Trump had a stronger lead among independent voters at 46% compared to Harris’ 32%. And there's a lot of campaigning still to be done because overall, more than a fifth of independent voters are undecided.
“In a multicandidate field, Harris (42%) and Trump (42%) tie among the national electorate,” per the Marist polling results. “Kennedy receives 7%. Support for [Cornell] West (1%) and [Jill] Stein (1%) is in low single digits. Less than 1% support [Chase] Oliver.”
Those results also found that 77% of Democrats want Harris to be the nominee, while 22% want another member of the party to challenge her.
Potential alternate options include Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (21%) and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (21%) at top the list, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro with 17%, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-N.J.) with 13%, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper with 8% and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker with 7%, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear with 6% and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore with 6%.
Surveys for the Marist poll were conducted Monday and surveys for the Ipsos poll were conducted Monday and Tuesday.