Vice President Kamala Harris edged out former President Donald Trump in a national poll released by Reuters/Ipsos on Thursday.
In the first national count taken by Reuters since Tuesday's presidential debate, Harris won 47% of registered voters to Trump's 42%.
Poll responders overwhelmingly believed that Harris was the winner of Tuesday night's debate. 53% of respondents said Harris won her first meeting with the ex-prez, compared to only 24% saying they believed Trump won. The debate, which drew in over 67 million viewers, served as Harris’s first chance to introduce her platform to a wide audience.
Trump's debate performance seemingly shook registered Republicans with only 53% of Republican voters polled saying Trump came out on top. Compare that to 91% of Democrats who said Harris was the winner.
Reuters added that 52% of respondents thought Trump didn’t appear sharp, compared to just 21% who said the same about Harris. A CNN poll conducted Tuesday night returned similar results, with 63% of viewers favoring Harris.
Trump has spent the days since the debate blaming his performance on the media and ducking the idea of future debates. On Wednesday, Trump was caught on camera complimenting Harris’s performance.
Harris’s five-point edge over Trump in the Reuters poll comes days after a national New York Times-Siena College poll showed the vice president down by one point to the former president. Harris is narrowly favored by FiveThirtyEight to win, while a rival model from Nate Silver has Trump with significantly greater odds than Harris to win.
