Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris received no boost nationally, or in the critical state of Pennsylvania, following last week’s debate against Donald Trump and remains tied with her Republican opponent, according to new surveys.
Polls by The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College found the current vice president and former president each have 47% support among likely general election voters nationwide, while Harris leads Trump, 50% to 46%, in Pennsylvania after their Sept. 10 debate.
With a crowded field of candidates, the major party nominees for the 2024 election remain tied at 46% support nationally. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver each received the support of 2% of likely voters.
Trump, 78, lost a single percentage point of support in both the two-way and four-way head-to-head after the debate with Harris in Philadelphia.
In the four-candidate race alone, Harris, 59, gained one percentage point of support after the debate.
Even the approval ratings for the two candidates were nearly identical: 48% prefer Harris and 47% have a good opinion of Trump. The majority of voters (51%) have an unfavorable opinion of Trump and 49% view Harris in the same way.
These results come despite 67% of likely voters surveyed saying the vice president performed well against Trump in the debate. Only 40% of voters said the 45th president performed well.
But nearly half (47%) of likely voters also view Harris as too liberal, while only 35% say Trump is too conservative.
That difference may be responsible for Trump overtaking Harris among voters who describe themselves as independents (48% to 45%).
It’s worth noting, however, that those same independents gave the 45th president poor marks for his debate performance: 65% said Harris did well and just 30% said Trump did well.
On these issues, voters still believe Trump would handle the economy (54%) and immigration (54%) better than the current Democratic president.
In Pennsylvania, the economy remains a major concern: 77% of likely general election voters rate it as poor or average, and only 22% rate it as good or excellent.
Harris, on the other hand, leads Trump among voters concerned about the president’s handling of abortion (54%) and the preservation of democracy (50%).
Other demographic groups that could make up a winning Harris coalition nationally include women (54%), voters ages 18-29 (58%), Black and Hispanic voters (76% and 51%, respectively), and college-educated voters (61%).
Meanwhile, Trump consolidates a majority of voters without a college education (56%), white voters (54%), and voters from the Midwest and South (52% in each region).
The vice president continues to win over the majority of voters in the Northeast (54%) and on the West Coast (52%).
Harris also has the support of 59% of city dwellers and 56% of suburbanites, while Trump gets 65% of support from rural communities.
The Times/Inquirer/Siena poll was conducted Sept. 11-16 and surveyed 2,047 likely general election voters with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
