Democrat voters across the country have rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris, a new poll rom Marquette Law School shows.
When forced to choose between Harris and former President Donald Trump, registered voters picked Harris 52% to Trump’s 48%; among likely voters, Trump loses another point to Harris
In a multi-way ballot, Harris’ lead widens, receiving 47% to Trump’s 41% among registered voters, and 50% to 42% among likely voters.
The results also show President Biden’s exit from the race has benefited Democrat numbers. When asked whom they would have voted for if the president had remained, only 43% of respondents said Biden with 11% answering undecided.
Enthusiasm levels have also spiked among Democrat voters since Harris’ entrance, with 55% of registered voters identifying as “very enthusiastic” about voting compared to only 34% in June.
Harris also scores better than Biden in all five candidate description categories relating to age, values, behavior, strong accomplishments and temperament.
While Trump scores higher than Harris on strong accomplishments and strong leadership (a new category), voters are also more likely to say he is too old, has behaved corruptly, and has the wrong temperament to be president.
Voters also lean toward Harris as a candidate who shares their values, with 51% choosing her and 45% choosing Trump. The candidates rank roughly equally on communication skills, another new category in the poll.
Notably, both Harris and Trump received their highest net favorability ratings since MLS polls in November 2021.
Harris holds a -3 net favorability score, with 47% favorable – a 12 percentage point jump since May – and 50% unfavorable.
Trump sits at -8 net favorability, with 45% favorable – a 4 percentage point jump since May – and 53% unfavorable.
Similar to the recent MLS poll in Wisconsin, voters nationally believe Trump would better handle immigration and border security, the Israel-Hamas war, the economy and foreign relations. But Harris polls higher for issues of health care, Medicare and Social Security, ensuring election accuracy and fairness and abortion policy.
In terms of the ideology of the candidates, 41% of voters perceive Harris as “very liberal” and 30% see her as “somewhat liberal.” Nearly half of voters, 48%, think Trump is “very conservative” and 31% believe he is “somewhat conservative.”
The survey was conducted July 24 to Aug. 1, interviewing 879 registered voters nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-4.1 percentage points. For likely voters, the sample size is 683 with a margin of error of +/-4.7 percentage points.
