Former president Donald Trump pulls a slight lead among likely voters in the race for the White House against Vice President Kamala Harris during the last campaign push before Election Day, a new Wall Street Journal survey shows.
The new national poll shows the Republican candidate ahead by 2 percentage points, at 47% to 45%, compared to the same August poll that showed Harris with a lead of 2 points. The study was conducted among 1,500 registered voters between Oct. 19-22. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
The Journal suggests that the culprit for this new trend may be that voters have become more negative about Harris' agenda, while they have adopted a more optimistic outlook on Trump's.
In fact, when this issue was polled, views of Harris turned more negative since August, when an equal share of voters viewed her favorably and unfavorably. Now, the unfavorable views are stronger, leading by 8 percentage points, at 53% to 45%.
At the same time, voters gave Harris her worst job rating as vice president in the three times the Journal asked about it since July, with 42% approving and 54% disapproving of her performance.
By comparison, voters have seemed to turn more keen towards Trump, The Journal says. Voters recall his time as president more positively than at any point in this election cycle, with 52% approving and 48% disapproving of his performance in office— a 4-point positive job rating that contrasts with the 12-point negative rating for Harris.
On the issues, The Journal also found voters trust Trump more to handle issues like the economy, immigration, inflation and the Israel and Hamas War. While Harris is more trusted to properly deal with abortion, and Social Security and Medicare.
The Journal's survey shows a slight difference compared to some national polling averages. For instance, according to FiveThirtyEight's polling average, Harris is leading Trump by 1.7 percentage points. Likewise, Decision Desk HQ and The Hill show the Vice President leading the former President by 0.9 percentage points.
The results come as both candidates are currently embarking on their closing statements, with Election Day being exactly 12 days away.
On one side, Harris has been engaging in a media blitz as part of her last push to court voters. The Vice President appeared on a town hall hosted by CNN in Pennsylvania, where undecided voters got to ask her their most pressing questions. She is also set to rally near Atlanta on Thursday with two high-profile supporters, musician Bruce Springsteen and former President Barack Obama. On Friday, she will be joined by Beyonce, one of her most anticipated supporters, at a rally in Houston focused on abortion rights.
Trump, on the other hand, has opted to remain in his safe space before Election Day, turning down appearances on major news organizations like 60 Minutes and CNN. He is scheduled to rally on Thursday in Tempe, Ariz., before making a speech in Las Vegas.
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