Until recently, Lillian Dunsmuir of Bullhead City, Arizona, “didn’t really think” about Kamala Harris and had no thoughts at all about the U.S. vice president. But now she likes what she sees.
“It’s interesting. I think this is very reasonable. She speaks well,” said Dunsmuir, a 58-year-old real estate agent. “I felt safe with her because I think she knows how to deal with foreign leaders. I like her because she is pro-choice, and so am I.”
According to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, voters view Harris slightly more favorably than they did in July, just after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. The Democratic presidential nominee is now viewed more positively than negatively. Former President Donald Trump’s approval rating remained steady, even though the poll was conducted before the Republican nominee’s assassination attempt at his Florida golf course on Sunday.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris arrives to speak at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) leadership conference, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington.
(Jacqueline Martin/AP)
About 50% of voters have a somewhat or very favorable view of Harris, and 44% have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Harris, the poll found. That’s a slight shift from late July, just after Biden dropped out of the race, when views of Harris were slightly more unfavorable than favorable. Meanwhile, 6 in 10 voters have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Trump, and nearly 4 in 10 have a somewhat or very favorable view of him.
Changes in opinion about national figures like Biden, Trump or Harris have been rare in recent years. Trump’s approval rating has remained unchanged over the summer, despite a criminal conviction, an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and a new rival in the presidential race.
But Trump has historically dominated with low approval ratings. He won the 2016 election despite being unpopular and came close to winning in 2020 under similar circumstances.
The poll also found that nearly a third think the phrase “change the country for the better” describes Trump or Harris very well, leaving voters somewhat pessimistic about their chances in the race.
“Everyone talks about how polarized we are. I don’t think the election is going to fix that,” said Sean Lubbers, 55, a high school history teacher in Upland, California, who does not support Harris. See Harris handling this. I think a lot of damage has already been done, so I don’t expect an election to fix it. For now you can call it triage. “We can’t make things worse.”
Still, there are other signs in the poll that Harris’s arrival on the national stage is going well. Voters are more likely to say Harris would make a good president and that the former Republican president would not make a good president. About half of voters say Harris would make a good president, compared with 36% who say the same about Trump. And voters think Harris has a better chance of winning the November election, though most say the candidates are equally likely to win or are undecided.
In another potentially promising finding for Harris, independent voters view him slightly more favorably than Trump, though a large share of independents view both candidates negatively. Three in 10 independents say they don’t know enough to say whether Harris would make a good president, compared with 1 in 10 who say the same about Trump, saying the vice president is more likely to gain ground than his opponent.
On the other hand, 6 in 10 voters say that the phrase “he will say anything to win the election” describes Trump “very” or “extremely” well, compared to 4 in 10 who say the same about Harris.
Voters are more likely to say the phrase “change the country for the better” describes Harris very or very well. They are also more likely to see Harris as someone who will fight for people like them.
Despite Trump’s efforts to portray Harris as a weak alternative, voters still think Trump and Harris are tough enough to be president.
“I think that was his biggest problem: He was a strong leader and they didn’t like him,” Pat Brumfield, a 71-year-old retired administrator from Glenwood, West Virginia, said of Trump. That strength, he said, could now benefit the country.
“I think we need it,” said Broomfield, who describes himself as a lifelong Democrat but said he is disillusioned with the party and will not vote for Harris.
On both sides of the aisle, Republican and Democratic voters have stronger feelings toward their party’s candidate than toward his or her opponent. For example, more Democratic voters say Trump won’t make the country better or fight for people like them than Harris does.
Republicans are slightly more divided on Trump than Democrats are on some of Harris’s qualities. About a third of Republican voters say “he’ll do anything to win the election” describes Trump very or extremely well, while only 15% of Democratic voters say the same about Harris.
Meanwhile, Democratic voters now have more positive views of Harris than Republican voters do of Trump. Nine in 10 Democratic voters have a somewhat or very favorable opinion of their candidate, while nearly 8 in 10 Republican voters say the same about Trump.
“I think she really gets it, and I think she understands how expensive child care is, that it’s impossible for first-time buyers to buy anything,” said Chanda Harcourt, a 54-year-old writer from Albuquerque, New York – Mexico, who supports Harris. “She really nailed it.”
