Americans view Harris much more favorably than Trump, poll finds
Photo: Kamala Harris (Getty Images)
48% of American adults have a very or somewhat favorable view of Vice President Kamala Harris, who will be the Democratic Party's nominee, according to an Associated Press-NORC poll.
That's up from 39% earlier this summer, before President Joe Biden's poor performance in a debate with former President Donald Trump ultimately caused him to drop out of the presidential race.
Not only is this an improvement for Harris, but it's also up from Biden's 38% before he dropped out of the race. It's also better than Trump, with only 41% of respondents saying they have a favorable opinion of him.
The surge in favorability for Harris comes as more Americans are forming an opinion about her in general, while both the Harris and Trump campaigns rush to establish her candidacy. The share of those who say they don't know enough about her to have an opinion has halved, from 12% in June to 6% now.
The latter dimension corresponds to how Americans felt about Harris in early 2021 when she and Biden first took office. That suggests a resurgence in positive attitudes toward Harris - the share of Americans who have a very favorable opinion of her has also increased over the same period, but she risks hitting a ceiling as she nears her previous top rating.
The survey of 1,164 adults was conducted between August 8 and 12, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the US population. The sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
US Vice President Kamala Harris already leads or is tied with former President Donald Trump in most key states. Harris is ahead of Trump in states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
