US Presidential Polls: Kamala Harris narrows gap against Donald Trump, Times/Siena poll finds

Vice President Kamala Harris begins a 103-day sprint for the presidency in a virtual tie with former President Donald Trump, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, as her fresh candidacy was quickly reuniting a Democratic Party that had been deeply fractured over President Joe Biden.

Just days after the president abandoned his campaign under pressure from party leaders, the poll showed Democrats rallying behind Harris as the presumptive nominee, with only 14% saying they would prefer another option. An overwhelming 70% of Democratic voters said they wanted the party to speedily consolidate behind her rather than engage in a more competitive and drawn-out process.

Her swift reassembling of the Democratic coalition appeared to help narrow Trump's significant advantage over Biden of only a few weeks ago. Harris was receiving 93% support from Democrats, the same share that Trump was getting from Republicans.


Overall, Trump leads Harris 48% to 47% among likely voters in a head-to-head match. That is a marked improvement for Democrats when compared with the Times/Siena poll in early July that showed Biden behind by 6 percentage points, in the aftermath of the poor debate performance that eventually drove him from the race.

Trump leads Harris 48% to 46% among registered voters. He had led among registered voters by 9 percentage points over Biden in the post-debate poll.

The poll showed Harris garnering about 60% support from voters younger than 30 and Hispanic voters, groups Biden had consistently struggled with. Among voters younger than 45, Harris was ahead by 10 percentage points, less than three weeks after Trump had held a narrow edge with that group over Biden.

Because the survey was of voters nationwide, the impact of Harris' candidacy in particular battleground states was not immediately clear. But a Democratic candidate with greater appeal to younger and more diverse voters could put renewed focus on the Sun Belt states of Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, which had been threatening to slip off the swing-state map for Biden.