Former President Trump and Vice President Harris are tied in key battleground states, according to a new CBS News poll published Sunday, as Democrats rally behind Harris as their newly official nominee.
The CBS News/YouGov poll also found Harris leading Trump by 1 point nationally, a much better position for Democrats than with President Biden at the top of the ticket.
The candidates are tied with 50 percent support each in battlegrounds, while Harris leads Trump 50 to 49 percent nationally in a head-to-head race, the poll found. When third-party candidates are included, Harris extends to a 2-point lead over the former president.
Harris’s campaign opened to mass enthusiasm from Democrats after she took over for Biden, breaking fundraising records and drawing large crowds. That enthusiasm has also been shown in polls, with more Democrats saying they will “definitely” vote than with Biden as the nominee.
Overall, 85 percent of Democrats and 88 percent of Republicans say they will vote, compared to 81 percent of Democrats and 90 percent of Republicans last month.
Among Black voters, a key demographic for Harris, 74 percent said they would “definitely” vote compared to 58 percent when Biden was the nominee.
Harris now has 81 percent support among Black voters, compared to 73 percent support for Biden. Democratic strategists had warned for months that Biden was losing ground with this key section of the party’s base.
Harris has also widened the gender gap between the candidates, with the vice president winning 54 percent of women’s votes. Trump, meanwhile, is winning 54 percent of men, according to the poll.
In battlegrounds, Harris and Trump are tied in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona, according to the poll. Trump has a 1-point lead in Wisconsin and a 3-point lead in Georgia and North Carolina, while Harris has a 2-point lead in Nevada.
The CBS News/YouGov poll surveyed about 3,100 registered voters between July 30 and Aug. 2, with a margin of error of 2.1 percent.