New poll may show Harris approval rating stalling after optimism in August

Nearly 30 percent of U.S. voters say they need to know more about Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Harris, according to a new poll.

A national poll released Sunday by The New York Times and Siena College showed Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump leading Harris with 48 percent support to 47 percent, a margin that remains within the margin of error. Trump is now either tied with or narrowly ahead of Harris in seven battleground states, meaning the outcome is still too close to call.

The New York Times correspondent was slightly surprised by the poll's results. He said it was the first time Trump had taken the lead in a major nonpartisan national poll in about a month. The poll results should be treated with caution, as there is not much evidence for this in other polls.

That being said, the authors say that if Harris' approval ratings have really dropped in recent weeks, it is not hard to explain, after all, from President Biden's withdrawal in July to the Democratic National Convention in August, the media has been focused on her for an entire month, she may be in a "political honeymoon period." If so, it is understandable that the Harris honeymoon effect faded two weeks after the Democratic National Convention.

There is also a plausible explanation for the lack of quality polling conducted since the Democratic Convention. There were some online polls this week, but there were no traditional high-quality polls after August 28. One explanation is that polling typically takes a break over Labor Day weekend, and another is that many surveyors may choose to conduct another poll after Tuesday's televised debate between Harris and Trump.

Whatever the reason, the New York Times and Siena Poll found a chance for a comeback for Trump. The poll found that Trump has significant advantages in the November presidential election, and those advantages may be enough to give him victory.

Overall, 46 percent of likely voters say they have a favorable opinion of Trump, down slightly from 47 percent in the last national poll, but still showing him more popular than he was in the 2016 or 2020 presidential elections.

Trump leads Harris by 5 percentage points on the issues that matter most to voters. And almost a majority of voters say Trump is "not too far to the left or right" on the issues, with only about a third saying he is "too far to the right." By contrast, nearly half of voters see Harris as "too left"; Only 41 percent of voters said she was "not too far to the left or right."