CNN :
The race for president between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is exceedingly close, with Harris’ support resting on stronger personal appeal, while Trump draws on a die-hard base and a wide advantage on handling the economy to run about even despite less positive views of him, his empathy and temperament.
Among likely voters nationwide, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds 48% support Harris and 47% Trump, a margin that suggests no clear leader in the race.
About 2% say they plan to vote for Libertarian Chase Oliver and 1% for Green Party nominee Jill Stein. Both Harris and Trump hold positive support from the majority of their backers – 72% of Trump’s supporters say their choice is more for him than against Harris, while 60% of Harris’ supporters say their choice is more for her than against him.
That’s a major shift in voters’ attitudes toward the race compared with earlier this summer. In the last national CNN poll in July, shortly after President Joe Biden ended his campaign for president and Harris threw her hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination, Harris’ backers were evenly divided between affirmative support for her and those driven by anti-Trump sentiment. And Biden’s supporters in earlier polls said they were largely expressing opposition to Trump with their choice.
The latest poll finds Harris and Trump roughly even with independent likely voters – Harris at 45% to Trump at 41% – with a gender gap that is centered among independents.
Independent women break 51% Harris to 36% Trump while independent men split 47% for Trump to 40% for Harris, with very little difference between men and women in either party.
The gender divide in the poll is also more concentrated among White voters (White men break 58% Trump to 35% Harris, while White women split 50% Trump to 47% Harris), with very little gender divide among Black or Latino voters. Harris is well ahead among likely voters younger than 30 (55% support her to 38% who favor Trump), and among Black (79% Harris to 16% Trump) and Latino (59% Harris to 40% Trump) likely voters.
A scant 2% of likely voters say they haven’t yet chosen a candidate to support, and another 12% have chosen one but say they could change their minds.
The poll suggests that overall, Harris has begun to build a more positive public image, outpacing Trump across several measures of how the public views her personally.
Since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris’ favorability rating has climbed to its highest level in CNN polling since just before her and Biden’s inauguration in January 2021 (currently 46% favorable to 48% unfavorable among likely voters), while Trump’s has held steady (currently 42% favorable to 55% unfavorable among likely voters).
Although many voters are still forming opinions of the major candidates for vice president, Harris’ choice for a running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, has a notably more positive favorability rating (36% favorable to 32% unfavorable) than Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance (30% favorable to 42% unfavorable).
A narrow majority or more of likely voters nationwide say Harris’ temperament (58%), background and life experience (56%), ability to understand their problems (52%), skills as a leader (51%) and vision for the country (51%) align with what they want in a president. For Trump, by contrast, about half of likely voters or fewer say his vision for the country (49%), skills as a leader (49%), background (46%), ability to empathize with people like them (46%) or temperament (38%) align with their vision of a president.
But notably, in this divided race, 51% say each of them has policy positions on major issues that align with what they want in a president, with more saying Trump’s are exactly what they want in a president (29% for Trump vs. 18% for Harris).
That’s true even as Trump is more broadly seen as “too extreme” in his views and positions than Harris is (54% of likely voters say Trump is, 42% that Harris is). A small group of those who see Trump as too extreme are voting for him anyway: He holds the support of 10% of likely voters who consider his views and policies to be too extreme, while Harris has the backing of just 4% of those likely voters who feel she is too extreme.