Vice President Kamala Harris lags behind former president Donald Trump in several recent polls taken in swing states.
Harris launched her presidential campaign shortly after President Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing from the race on Sunday. Biden then announced that he was endorsing Harris as the Democratic nominee for president.
Harris is not yet the official Democratic candidate for president, but a survey of delegates conducted by The Associated Press has found that the vice president has enough support to secure the nomination.
However, three recent polls show that Trump continues to outperform Harris in several swing states which will be pivotal to winning the election. The poll results come despite several big Democratic names putting their support behind Harris, including former president Barack Obama.
Newsweek reached out to Harris’ and Trump’s campaigns by email for comment.
Polling company Redfield and Wilton Strategies released their results from a recent poll of 6,927 swing state voters on Friday. The poll was conducted between July 22 and 24, shortly after Biden dropped out of the race. Results show that Trump leads Harris in seven of the nine swing states polled, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Harris leads Trump 44 percent to 41 percent in Minnesota. The two candidates are tied at 44 percent in Wisconsin.
Emerson College Polling/The Hill polled five swing states from July 22 to 23 and found similar results. Harris trailed Trump in four states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The polling also found that the two candidates were tied in Wisconsin, at 47 percent each.
Clean and Prosperous America PAC surveyed voters in four battleground states from July 17 to 20, before Biden announced his withdrawal. Trump outperformed Biden in all four states—Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania—as well as Harris.
However, when compared to prior polling, the Redfield and Wilton Strategies survey found that Trump’s lead over Harris in Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina had narrowed when compared to his lead over Biden last week. Despite the slight improvement to the Democratic ticket in those swing states, Trump’s lead over Harris had widened when compared to his performance against Biden in Florida and Michigan. His lead remained unchanged in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the poll found.
The polls come only days after an On Point Politics/SoCal Research poll and a Morning Consult poll released Sunday after Biden’s announcement and Monday respectively also found Harris losing to Trump.
Despite the concerning polls, Harris is taking action to bolster her campaign, including by raising millions of dollars in less than 24 hours after Biden stepped down and holding her first campaign rally in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
