New poll reveals how voters are viewing Trump and Harris after the debate

Published: Sep 12, 2024 Duration: 00:07:02 Category: News & Politics

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A new national Reuters Ipsos poll has Harris ahead by five points. Let's take a look at that right now. CNN Terry Enten is here with much more. Harry, can you give us some context around that margin and the movement that you're seeing in polling post-debate? Yeah, I think it's rather important to point out that the Reuters Ipsos poll has actually been one of Harris's best. So, look, you get that five point margin, right, that 4742 that you mentioned post-debate, but that's actually not a lot of movement from where we were in August when Harris was up by four. Now, that is movement from where we were in late July when Harris was up by two. But the bottom line here is this at least in the first polling that we're getting post this debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, maybe slight, slight, slight movement in Harris's direction, but not overwhelmingly so. So which I don't think is really much of a surprise given the 5050 nation we are right now. But the bottom line is, in the average of polls, Harris had a slight national lead. And at this particular point, I think she'll probably hold on to that, at least based upon this initial signal. Yeah. Didn't hurt her. Maybe. No, didn't. Also, it wasn't, you know, the the nail in the coffin for a Donald Trump candidacy either, which is exactly what people expected with this debate in the 5050 nation we are in right now. What is the biggest difference, though? You see in polls, these these polls compared to those that came after the Biden Trump debate in June? Yeah, I mean, look, it all comes down to mental state and being able to deal with challenges. All right. So mental sharp. I can deal with challenges. Look at this. Back in the post June debate, right. Look at that. 52% of voters said that, in fact, Trump was mentally sharp. I can deal with challenges. Look at the Joe Biden number. It was just 26%. Now, look at the difference here. Look at this, 58% in the post September debate. Paul said that Harris was mentally sharp and could deal with challenges. Trump's number actually dropped below 50% down to just 46. So that 52 to 46. So this was the big change that I think a lot of Democrats are hoping for. When they switched out Biden for Harris, it came down to mental sharpness. And the bottom line is the clear majority of voters believe that Kamala Harris is mentally sharp and deal with challenges. And the number for Trump that declined by six points between post June and post September, I think that's a very welcome sign for Democrats on the top line. Maybe not so much a movement nationally, but underneath the hood. I think Democrats really have to like what they say. In talking with people on TV from the Harris campaign and then hearing from Democrats involved with the campaign, one of the things you hear is that everyone feels they did great in the debate. The question is, can it reach the undecided voters? Yeah, and I'm not sure they have an answer, at least not the answer they want yet. So it leads me to this question What really is an undecided voter? Where are they and who are they? Yeah, well, look, part of the challenge here is that undecided voters are undecided because they're not really focused on this campaign. The they are low information voters. They tend to be younger. And likely they they they didn't watch the debate. They may be seeing some social media on it, but they're hard to reach voters and they may make the difference in this race. Are the undecided between the candidates or the undecided about whether they show up to vote? Well, I think a little of both. I think one important thing to note is they probably have a pretty strong judgment about Donald Trump. They're skeptical about politics generally. They don't particularly like Trump, but they don't know very much about Kamala Harris. They're open to her, but they're also prepared to be disappointed by her as well. So a big task for the campaign is to continue to fill in the picture of her and particularly around sort of transactional issues about the economy. Like what? What is she going to do for me? On that note, one of the things you hear in the chattering class is, oh, you know, Kamala Harris needs more distinctive policy proposals. Is that what undecided voters want? Well, I don't know if you know, I don't think what she needs is a voluminous list of policies, but there may be a few signature policies that speak to the economic experience, quality of life experience of voters in which she wants to go deeper and drive with those voters to give a sense that, yeah, she gets it. I think she might help out. I'll take a chance on her. But these voters are not going to be. This is not 2008, Right? This is not they're not going to be swept along here. They're going to grudgingly conclude that I'll take a chance on this, which is why the Harris team, I think, genuinely does want another debate, another chance to reach people who may not be paying attention. And the problem with her debate, John, performance one of the problems with it is it came rather early in this. I mean, there's going to be an eternity between now and November. And so the the other motivation for a second debate is it's a second chance to do well. And I think they're pretty confident she would. And I think Trump's people are like, you know what, this didn't benefit us very much. Why should we take the risk of doing another. Yeah, for all for all the arguing that goes on out there inside a campaign, you do a debate. If he thinks it will help you and you don't do it if you don't think it will help you. Full stop. Yes. You know, and that's, I think, the only analysis on the Trump team right now. They may change their mind because they think they need it, but I don't know if they'll change their mind. He may change his mind and they keep goading him to try and change his mind by making it seem like he's not courageous enough to do another. I do want your take on the Laura Loomer thing. Donald Trump has been traveling the country with her. George Bush, when I covered him in 2000, used to say, You can judge the character of a man by the company he keeps. If Donald Trump is keeping company with this person who said just wildly racist things, yeah, you know, what? Does he get it wrong? anti-Semitic, by the way, which is interesting, given Trump's rhetoric about that. I think in first of all, I don't pretend to live inside of Donald Trump's head, so I can't tell you exactly. But it may be that if there's a strategic reason, he's thinking, look, I got to get these people out who aren't particularly activated or I have to get my base out. And she speaks to that base and I don't really care what the rest of the world thinks. I'm speaking to these voters who may make the difference. And right now, this is a motivational race to try and get your base out. It's not a persuasion race. She can help persuade you. Look, he had all those influencers who are you know, there was a kind of exotic character to them, but they speak to like tens of millions of people. David Axelrod, next time, I promise there will be fireworks. Yes, please. Right. So I insist.

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