Two polls show Harris doing better than Biden previously did against Trump

WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is performing better than US President Joe Biden in battleground states likely to decide the Nov 5 election, narrowing the gap with Republican Donald Trump, according to an Emerson College/The Hill poll released on July 25.

The poll showed former US president Trump leading in four of the critical states: Arizona 49 per cent to 44 per cent, Georgia 48 per cent to 46 per cent, Michigan 46 per cent to 45 per cent, and Pennsylvania 48 per cent to 46 per cent.

Trump and US Vice-President Harris are tied at 47 per cent in Wisconsin, according to the poll.

Ms Harris surpassed Mr Biden’s performance in an Emerson poll conducted earlier in July in each of the five states.

She hit the campaign trail this week after Mr Biden

dropped out of the race

on July 21 and endorsed his vice-president.

The latest Emerson poll of registered voters was conducted from July 22 to July 23, and had a credibility interval for each state of plus or minus 3.4 per cent.

A nationwide poll released on July 25 by The New York Times/Siena College also showed Ms Harris doing better than Mr Biden against Trump.

It showed Trump leading Ms Harris by 2 percentage points, 48 per cent to 46 per cent, among registered voters, while Trump topped Mr Biden by 8 percentage points, 49 per cent to 41 per cent, in a poll conducted three weeks ago.

The New York Times/Siena College poll was of 1,142 registered voters nationwide and had a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.

A Reuters/Ipsos national poll released on July 23 showed Ms Harris with a

44 per cent to 42 per cent lead over Trump

, a difference within the 3-percentage-point margin of error.

While nationwide surveys give important signals of American support for political candidates, a handful of competitive states typically tilt the balance in the US Electoral College, which ultimately decides who wins a presidential election. REUTERS