Kamala Harris leads Trump by two points in new poll

Vice President Kamala Harris leads former President Donald Trump by two percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Monday and Tuesday.

The poll, taken after President Joe Biden announced his decision to drop his reelection bid, showed the vice president leading Trump 44%-42%.

In a poll conducted last week, the former president was tied with Harris at 44% support and led Biden by two percentage points. In a July 1-2 poll, Trump led Harris by one point.

Since then, many major events have caused a shift in the electorate's feelings — including an assassination attempt on Trump at a rally and a whirlwind start to Harris's presidential campaign after Biden dropped out and threw his support behind her. Following the president's lead, many major players in the Democratic Party have done the same, such as Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Harris’s favorability rating among all voters has jumped from 39% to 44% in the last week. Around 56% of voters said she was “mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges,” compared to 49% who said the same about Trump and 22% who said it about Biden.

Nearly three–quarters of Democratic voters say the party and voters should get behind Harris now so she can immediately build a campaign, while only around one-quarter say multiple candidates should compete for the nomination, according to the poll. One important Democrat who has yet to throw his support behind Harris, or any potential challenger, is former president Barack Obama.

Harris has reportedly been vetting several possible vice presidential candidates — many of whom respondents know little about. About one-quarter of registered voters said they had never heard of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, one-third had never heard of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), half had not heard of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and two-thirds knew nothing about Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY).

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Harris has the support of enough Democratic delegates to secure her party’s nomination, according to multiple reports.

The poll was conducted online and surveyed 1,241 U.S. adults, including 1,018 registered voters.