The latest New York Times/Siena College poll conducted from September 29 to October 3 reveled that Kamala Harris is now leading Donald Trump nationally by 49 percent to 46 per cent — a slight lead but it is still within the poll’s margin of error. The gains that Kamala Harris is making are small ones but these are on questions about temperament, trust and change.NYT noted that such a close contest in the final month indicates that the race is going to be one of the closest in modern history.
In the mid-September poll by NYT/ Sienna, Trump and Harris were at 47 per cent each. But since then, Kamala Harris shored up her support among older voters and is making inroads among Republicans. “9 percent said they planned to support her, up slightly from 5 percent last month. She also appears to have closed the gap on the question of change, a critical factor in an election where voters have repeatedly told pollsters they believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction,” the poll said.
The poll found out that voters are seeing Kamala Harris, bot Donald Trump, as the agent of change. This is a first for Harris as in the previous poll, Donald Trump was identified as the candidate of change.
Here is a breakdown of the latest NYT/Sienna findings
- Kamala Harris was seen by a wide margin, 61 per cent to 29 per cent, as the change candidate among voters who are not white.
- Younger voters see her as the change candidate by a lopsided margin: 58 percent to 34 per cent.
- Trump has a narrow-margin edge as a strong leader which could prove crucial with the Middle East in turmoil, the poll revealed.
- By a wide margin, Kamala Harris was seen as a more honest and trustworthy, more fun candidate than Trump.
- The poll found that 43 per cent of likely voters — and 13 per cent of Republicans — thought Harris was more fun.
- Donald Trump is leading among male voters by 11 points.
- 42 per cent of respondents said Trump’s policies helped them personally.
- More voters said they trusted Trump than Harris to manage economy.