Vice President Kamala Harris heads into her nominating convention this week leading former President Donald Trump in a head-to-head matchup, bolstered by vast improvements over President Joe Biden in enthusiasm and perceived readiness for the job and sharply better support among key groups including swing-voting independents, according to a new latest ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll.
Yet Trump retains the upper hand on the two top-cited election issues in the poll — the overall economy and inflation — and also leads on a third — immigration — keeping the race a closely contested one.
Among all adults — relevant since there’s plenty of time to register — Harris and Gov. Tim Walz lead Trump and Sen. JD Vance by 50%-45%. Among those now registered to vote, it’s 49%-45%, a slight Harris advantage given sampling tolerances. And Harris has a 6-point lead among likely voters, 51%-45%.
Roughly echoing these results, this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates with fieldwork by Ipsos, also finds that more people see Harris as qualified for the job, 53%, than say the same about Trump, 47%.
