① According to a poll released by the “New York Times” and Siena College on September 8, local time, Trump is ahead of Harris by a narrow margin of 48% to 47%; ② This is the first time in nearly a month that Trump has led Harris in a mainstream poll.
Since US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Harris ran for election, her approval rating has soared, surpassing Republican presidential candidate Trump in many polls. However, after the upward trend continued for more than a month, Harris' approval rating came to a standstill.
According to a poll published by the “New York Times” and Siena College on September 8, local time, Trump is ahead of Harris by a narrow margin of 48% to 47%. This is the first time in nearly a month that Trump has led Harris in a mainstream poll.
Trump has gained more trust and is 5 percentage points ahead of Harris in dealing with some of the issues voters are most concerned about. In the eyes of voters, Trump is less aggressive; on the contrary, he is closer to the center than Harris.
Almost the vast majority of voters said Trump was neither too left-leaning nor too right-leaning on these issues. Only about one-third of voters thought he was too right-leaning. In contrast, nearly half of voters said Harris was too left-leaning; only about 41 voters thought she wasn't too left-leaning or right-leaning.
This is probably one of Trump's most overlooked strengths. Despite being often associated with the outside world and the extreme right, Trump has recently been carefully maintaining his reputation. He has taken a softer stance on abortion rights and has also claimed not to support the “2025 Plan” advocated by conservatives.
The vast majority of voters said that the US economy is not performing well, the country is moving in the wrong direction, and they hope that the next president will bring about changes. Trump, on the other hand, is viewed by voters as more likely to bring about change.
61% of voters think Trump represents “change,” and only 34% think he will hardly bring about change. By contrast, only 40% of voters agree that Harris can make a difference, and 55% of voters think she will be “basically the same.”
Despite receiving a lot of exposure over the past month, voters still don't know enough about Harris. 28% of voters said they don't know enough about Harris, while only 9% think they need to know more about Trump.
According to the analysis, the reason why Harris's approval rating in this poll lags behind Trump is mainly because after more than a month, the media focused on Harris, which enabled her approval rating to rise like a rock. However, as the “political honeymoon period” ended, Harris' approval ratings stagnated or even declined, which is understandable.