According to new polls, US presidential candidate Kamala Harris is ahead of her challenger Donald Trump in three important states. In the polls published on Saturday by The New York Times and Siena College, Democrat Harris has an approval rating of 50 percent in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, while Republican Trump is at 46 percent.
According to the US electoral system based on electoral college, the three populous states in the Midwest are considered the key to victory for both parties. US presidential elections are often decided in the so-called swing states, which cannot be clearly assigned to one of the two political camps.
This reverses poll results in the three states where Trump was either tied or narrowly ahead of incumbent President Joe Biden for nearly a year, who dropped his candidacy last month and instead endorsed his Vice President Harris.
A lot can still change before the presidential election on November 5. According to the new poll, voters continue to favor Trump on key issues such as the economy and immigration, while Harris is 24 percentage points ahead of Trump when asked who can be trusted more on the issue of abortion.
Regardless, Democrats are taking heart from the enthusiasm surrounding Harris’ candidacy, with many expressing relief since the 81-year-old Biden dropped out of the race for the White House.
Harris’ decision to select Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate also appears to have given the US Democrats a further boost. The enthusiasm for the new duo Harris and Walz has slowed down the increasing support for Trump that he had enjoyed after the assassination attempt on him on July 13 and the Republican Party Convention.
In the state of Pennsylvania, Harris’ popularity among registered voters jumped by ten percentage points in just one month, according to a poll conducted by the New York Times and Siena College. Voters said Harris was more intelligent than Trump and more suitable to govern the country.
Among Democrats, satisfaction with the election of their candidates in the three states has shot up by 27 percentage points since May.
However, observers warn Democrats against being too optimistic as Trump continues to lead in national polls.
The New York Times and Siena College polls were conducted between August 5 and 9, with at least 600 voters surveyed in each of the three states.
