This is how voters within the 2024 battlegrounds of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin view Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump forward of their first presidential debate.
Many citizens say they do not know what Harris stands for
Harris’ stances are much less identified than Trump’s. Roughly 4 in 10 voters in these battleground states say they do not know what Harris stands for. A few of that is pushed by Republicans — most of whom say they do not know the place she stands. However many independents maintain this view too – a key voting group that’s much less agency of their candidate help, and never notably enthusiastic about what they’ve seen from both of the campaigns just lately.
Extra voters really feel like they know the place third-time Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump stands, whether or not they agree with him or not.
The controversy is a chance for Harris to reintroduce herself and clarify to voters how she is going to method the problems they care about.
Likability: Benefit Harris – or is it?
Extra voters like how Kamala Harris handles herself personally than they do Donald Trump, and most of those that like them are voting for them.
However likability might not matter that a lot to some voters: 1 / 4 of those that dislike Trump are voting for him anyway. This isn’t completely new for Donald Trump. As we have seen through the years, a share of his supporters have ignored a few of Trump’s conduct they do not notably like.
That is much less the case for Harris. The proportion of voters who dislike how she handles herself personally and are nonetheless voting for her is within the low single digits.
Who’s the “change” candidate?
Harris and Trump are every attempting to model themselves because the “change candidate”, however in these battlegrounds, way more voters suppose it is Trump who will carry “so much” of change to the nation if elected.
All through his presidency, President Biden has obtained low marks for dealing with key points. Proper now, Harris’ insurance policies and views are seen as principally – however not completely – the identical as President Biden’s, maybe giving Harris a possibility to tell apart herself ultimately from him.
The problems: Will the talk change the candidate’s benefits and drawbacks?
Whereas some issues have modified with Harris now on the high of the Democratic ticket, some issues have remained the identical: Trump leads Harris — identical to he did President Biden — amongst voters who say the economic system and inflation are main elements of their vote – the highest considerations for voters. We all know from a few of our earlier polling that when voters look again, extra say the nationwide economic system beneath Trump was “good” than view it that approach right this moment.
On the U.S.-Mexico border, Republicans, specifically, say it is a significant component of their vote, and Trump leads on that subject, as he lengthy has.
However: The problems of abortion and democracy are benefits for Harris. The abortion subject stored Democrats aggressive within the 2022 midterms and it is serving to increase Harris right this moment. She leads Trump by a large margin amongst those that say abortion is a significant component of their vote.
And the state of democracy is a matter that Democrats specifically have emphasised, and right here too, Harris bests Trump amongst those that place quite a lot of significance on it.
The controversy will give the candidates an opportunity to steer voters they’re the one who would higher deal with these key points, maybe altering among the perceptions voters have of the candidates because it pertains to these points.
Fred Backus contributed to this report.
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These CBS Information/YouGov surveys have been carried out between September 3-6, 2024. They’re based mostly on consultant samples of 1,086 registered voters in Michigan, 1,085 in Pennsylvania, and 958 in Wisconsin. Margins of error for registered voters: Michigan +/- 3.7 factors, Pennsylvania +/- 3.5 factors, and Wisconsin +/- 4.0 factors.
