Voters view Harris more favorably as she settles into role atop Democratic ticket: AP-NORC poll
WASHINGTON — Until recently, Lillian Dunsmuir of Bullhead City, Arizona, “didn’t really think about” Kamala Harris or have an opinion about the vice president. But now she likes what she sees.
“She’s funny. I think she’s very smart. She’s a good talker,” said Dunsmuir, a 58-year-old real estate agent. “I would feel safe with her because I think she would get along well with foreign leaders. I like her because she’s pro-abortion, and so am I.”
Voters are slightly more positive about Harris than they were in July, just after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The Democratic presidential candidate is now viewed more positively than negatively. Former President Donald Trump’s approval ratings held steady, even though the poll was conducted before the apparent assassination attempt of the Republican candidate on his Florida golf course on Sunday.
According to the survey, about half of voters have a somewhat or very positive opinion of Harris, and 44% have a somewhat or very negative opinion. That’s a small shift since end of Julyjust after Biden dropped out of the race, when opinions of Harris were slightly more negative than favorable. Six in 10 voters, meanwhile, have a somewhat or very negative opinion of Trump, while about 4 in 10 have a somewhat or very favorable opinion of him.
Changes in views of national figures like Biden, Trump or Harris have been rare in recent years. Trump’s approval rating has not changed over the summer, despite a conviction for a crimea precarious situation with a potential hitman in Pennsylvaniaand a new opponent in the presidential election.
But Trump has won on similarly low approval ratings in the past. He won the 2016 election despite his deep unpopularity, and came close to winning in 2020 under similar circumstances.
The survey also found that a relatively small share of voters — about a third — say the phrase “would change the country for the better” describes Trump or Harris very or extremely well, suggesting voters are still somewhat dim about their options in the race.
“Everyone’s talking about how polarized we are. I don’t see the election fixing that,” said Sean Luebbers, a 55-year-old high school history teacher in Upland, California, who is supporting Harris. “I don’t see Harris fixing that. I think a lot of damage has already been done, so I’m not hopeful that the election is going to fix that. Right now, you could call it triage. We can’t make it worse.”
Still, there are other signs in the polls that Harris’ introduction to the country continues to go well. Voters are more likely to say Harris would make a good president than the former Republican president would not. About half of voters say Harris would make a good president, while 36% of voters say the same about Trump. And voters think Harris has a better chance of winning in November, though a significant share say the candidates are equally likely to win or have no opinion.
In another potentially promising finding for Harris, independent voters view her slightly more favorably than Trump, though a significant share of independents view both candidates negatively. Among independents, 3 in 10 say they don’t know enough to say whether Harris would make a good president, while 1 in 10 say the same about Trump, suggesting the vice president has more room to gain ground than her rival on that issue.
Opinions about Trump on several traits are generally more formed than opinions about Harris. About 6 in 10 voters say the phrase “will do anything to win this election” describes Trump “extremely” or “very” well. About 4 in 10 voters say that phrase describes Harris at least very well.
Voters are more likely to say that “it would change the country for the better” describes Harris extremely or very well. They are also more likely to see Harris than Trump as someone who would fight for people like them.
Despite Trump’s attempts to portray Harris as a weak alternative, voters are just as likely to think Trump and Harris are strong enough to be president.
“I think that was his biggest problem — he was a strong leader and they didn’t like that,” Pat Brumfield, a 71-year-old retired executive from Glenwood, West Virginia, said of Trump. That strength, she said, could benefit the country now.
“I think we need it,” said Brumfield, who described herself as a lifelong Democrat but said she has grown disillusioned with the party and will not vote for Harris. “After almost four years of Biden barely getting by, I think it’s put a black mark on the entire nation.”
On both sides of the political spectrum, Republican and Democratic voters have stronger feelings about their opponent than about their own party’s candidate. For example, Democratic voters were more likely to say that Trump would not change the country for the better or fight for people like them than they were to say that Harris would.
Republicans are somewhat more divided on Trump than Democrats are on Harris on some characteristics. About a third of Republican voters say that “will do anything to win this election” describes Trump very or extremely well, while only 15% of Democratic voters say that about Harris.
Democratic voters now have stronger positive feelings about Harris than Republican voters do about Trump. About 9 in 10 Democratic voters have somewhat or very positive opinions of their candidate, while about 8 in 10 Republican voters say the same about Trump.
“I think she really understands, and I think her understanding of how expensive child care is, how impossible it is for first-time homebuyers to buy anything,” said Chanda Harcourt, a 54-year-old writer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who is supporting Harris. “She really has a handle on it.”
___
Cooper reported from Phoenix.
___
The poll of 1,771 registered voters was conducted Sept. 12-16, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for registered voters is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.