At 2024 presidential race clearly remains a contest either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris can win, CBS News’ latest poll findings.
But with interest rates and gas prices come downthe number of voters who say the economy is good has ticked up. That, along with the debate voter said net positive for him, has helped Harris a bit.
The vice president has now moved to the slightest corner of the right warring countries (it was 50-50 last month), and he is now up 4 points nationally over Donald Trump.
Harris did better with voters who had a positive view of the national economy and their personal financial situation.
And he’s winning over voters who say the economy is at least getting better, if not better now. He won over voters who said gas prices around him were falling.
The challenge that remains for him is that despite the improvements, many voters still don’t think it’s a good thing. And who didn’t vote for Trump.
But overall, Harris has narrowed the deficit with Trump among those citing the economy as a major factor.
The debate appears to have helped boost support: among those who said the debate made them more likely to support him, nearly all voted for President Biden in 2020.
Vote on personal qualities or wisdom
After the debate, the impressions of the candidates showed a clear division in the electorate.
Those who value the personal qualities of a candidate choose Harris – he is more personally likable than Trump.
Those who say wisdom is very important are evenly split.
And many Trump voters don’t like him, but prioritize his policies over his personal qualities.
Trump’s base is sticking with him, and that support includes agreement on what he claims immigrants eat dogs and cats.
Most voters thought the claims about eating animals were false, but a majority of Trump supporters said they were probably true or definitely true. (Claim already denied.)
Voters generally disapprove of Trump making these claims, but two-thirds of Trump voters approve of him.
But he qualifies as “probably” more than “definitely” true, and the designation may signal something less literal. His supporters saw him speak out on what they see as a bigger issue, namely immigration and its impact on the country.
In general, Trump voters overwhelmingly see immigrants in general as making American society worse, and would favor the idea of ​​deporting people in the U.S. illegally, an idea that also favors more than half of voters overall.
The perception of immigrants in general strongly divides the coalition: Trump won Voters who believe that immigrants commit more crimes, and take jobs from citizens; Harris won over voters who think immigrants fill jobs Americans won’t, and are part of what makes America special.
Violence and threats to democracy
More voters say that Republican supporters have engaged in rhetoric that may encourage violence than say that of Democratic supporters. But the single biggest sentiment is that the rhetoric comes from “both sides”.
At trying to kill visible Florida against the former president may galvanize some of Trump’s support, as those who say they prefer to vote for Trump have overwhelmingly supported him in 2020.
Both sides have optimism if they lose: Most Harris supporters think the nation will see a higher threat of violence if Trump is elected, and most Trump supporters think the nation will see a higher threat if Harris.
Either way, both sides think the general tone and decency in American politics has worsened.
Political violence expresses the idea of ​​democracy more broadly, the idea that people can resolve their differences peacefully through process.
Both sides think that democracy in general is under threat, but this has been happening in our polls for some time and is not new in this campaign.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a representative sample of 3,129 registered voters nationwide who were interviewed between September 18-20, 2024. The sample was weighted by gender, age, race, and education based on the US Census American Community Survey and the Census Current Population Survey USA, also the past vote. Respondents were selected as representatives of registered voters nationwide. The margin of error for registered voters is ±2.2 points. The battlegrounds are AZ, GA, MI, NC, NV, PA, and WI.