Trump and Harris neck-and-neck, WSJ survey shows

The Wall Street Journal released a poll indicating a closely contested presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

In a head-to-head matchup, Trump leads Harris by a narrow margin of 49% to 47%, which falls within the survey’s margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.

This marks a significant shift from earlier this month when Trump had a six-point advantage over President Biden before he endorsed Harris after withdrawing from the race.

Including other candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the numbers show Harris with 45% and Trump with 44%, while Kennedy garners only 4% support, and 5% of voters remain undecided.

The multicandidate scenario reflects a six-point lead for Harris over the position Biden held in the last poll.

Harris has seen increased support from nonwhite voters, with 63% favoring her over Trump in the two-person race. This is a boost from the 51% support Biden received in the previous Wall Street Journal poll, though still below the 73% of nonwhite voters who backed him in the 2020 election.

The vice president’s appeal among young voters under 30 has also grown compared to Biden’s earlier this month, but not to the level of his 2020 victory.

The poll highlights a surge of enthusiasm for Harris among Democrats, with about 80% of voters from each party now expressing eagerness for their respective candidates. This marks a dramatic increase from the mere 37% of Biden voters who showed enthusiasm for him in early July. 

Furthermore, Harris has consolidated more Democratic support, securing the backing of 92% of those who voted for Biden in 2020.

In contrast, Biden had maintained the support of just 84% of his voters in an earlier survey.