A poll released Thursday and conducted after President Joe Biden dropped his bid for reelection shows former President Donald Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris in the battleground states Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan, while the former president is tied with the vice president in Wisconsin.
The New Emerson College pollsters found Trump enjoys his greatest lead in Arizona, where they determined 49 percent of voters support him while just 44 percent back Harris.
Trump’s lead was lower in the other states. The former president enjoyed a 48-46 percent majority in Georgia and Pennsylvania. Harris trailed the former president by just 1 percent in Michigan.
Harris and Trump were tied in Wisconsin, where the pollsters found that both Trump and Harris had 47 percent of support while 5 percent of voters remained undecided.
While Harris trails Trump in four of the five battleground states polled, the pollsters noted she “surpassed Biden’s support from earlier this month.
The Emerson College/The Hill poll was conducted on June 22 and June 23, meaning the data was gathered after Biden announced he would end his campaign and endorsed Harris. The pollsters had between 800 and 850 respondents in each state and predicted a margin of error of 3.3 percent or 3.4 percent for each state.
Pollsters found voters were most excited about the possibility of Harris selecting a vice presidential candidate from their respective states, with 42 percent of Arizona voters stating their preference for Senator Mark Kelly, 57 percent of Pennsylvania voters prefer Governor Josh Shapiro, and 36 percent of voters prefer Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Harris has reportedly narrowed her search for a vice presidential candidate to Shapiro and Kelly.
The pollsters also found Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate continue to lead their Republican challengers in all five states by about 4 percent.
Regarding favorability in the battleground states, Harris ranked better than Biden but continued to trail Trump. However, all those polled saw negative favorability ratings.
Trump’s favorability ratings ranged from 46 percent in Pennsylvania to 49 percent in Arizona and Georgia. In contrast, Harris’ favorability trailed in all of the states except Wisconsin, where pollsters found her favorability at 49 percent.
Biden’s approval ratings were lower than those of both candidates, with his approval highest in Georgia at 40 percent and lowest in Arizona at 35 percent.
Polling within striking distance of U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), a new ad by Republican U.S. Senate Dave McCormick declares Harris “the most liberal nominee in U.S. history.” He highlights media appearances from her 2020 campaign.
“Harris is left of left-wing, and Casey is now all in on her radical agenda that is deeply out of step with the needs of Pennsylvanians,” said McCormick’s campaign in a statement.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kamala Harris” by Kamala Harris.
