In a stunning twist, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are locked in a razor-thin battle for the White House, according to a new national poll from The New York Times and Siena College. With less than two months until Election Day, the poll shows Trump at 48% and Harris at 47% among likely voters, placing the candidates in a dead heat within the margin of error.
This latest poll mirrors the tight race seen in July, just after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection, thrusting Harris into the spotlight as the Democratic nominee. As the vice president gears up for a crucial debate against Trump on Tuesday, which will be their only scheduled face-off, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
According to the poll, 28% of likely voters still feel they need to learn more about Harris, underscoring the importance of her performance in the upcoming debate. In contrast, only 9% expressed the same uncertainty about Trump.
While 47% of voters view Harris as too liberal, 32% see Trump as too conservative, highlighting the sharp ideological divide in the electorate. Despite Harris’s rapid rise to the nomination, the poll indicates she has not yet received the anticipated boost from the party’s convention last month in Chicago.
This is the first time in recent weeks that Trump has held even a nominal lead in a major nonpartisan national poll. In The New York Times’ polling averages, Harris maintains a slight edge at 49% to Trump’s 47%. With the election fast approaching, this poll, conducted among 1,695 registered voters between September 3 and 6, could play a pivotal role in shaping the final stretch of the campaign. The margin of error is +/- 2.8 percentage points among likely voters, meaning this race is far from decided.
