President Joe Biden’s not-so-shocking surprise announcement on Sunday that he was bowing to pressure from Democratic bigwigs and donors and dropping out of the race has left Vice President Kamala Harris as the likely successor, but polling from earlier in the month doesn’t appear to suggest that she’s the party’s best shot at keeping the White House.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, many Democratic officials scrambled, seemingly tripping over themselves to get on TV and tout the prospect of Harris at the top of the ticket. A wave of endorsements washed across the vice president, who allegedly didn’t know Biden would be ending his campaign until Sunday, the same day he informed the nation.
Nevertheless, her status as the more-than-likely Democratic nominee is not yet secure. Unconvinced factions of the Democratic Party may try to force an open convention in August. If they do so, they’ll need some polling on their side.
Here’s some of what Fox News reported on head-to-head polling on a Harris-Trump matchup:
Before President Biden announced he would discontinue his re-election campaign and endorsed Vice President Harris, recent polls that had been conducted after his disastrous debate performance showed little difference between how he matched up against former President Trump compared to how Harris would.
The New York Times assessed that Harris falls about two percentage points behind Trump in recent polls. The 46% to 48% difference is slightly better for Harris compared to how Biden polled on average – three percentage points behind the Republican presidential nominee, 47% to 44%.
A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted in the battleground state of Pennsylvania from July 9-11, before Biden dropped out and before the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, showed Harris was only behind by one percentage point in a hypothetical matchup against Trump.
In Virginia, Harris had a five percentage point lead, compared to Biden only polling ahead of Trump in the same state by a razor-thin margin, according to the Times. Harris polled slightly better than Biden in both states among Black voters, younger voters and women.