Harris is polling ahead of Trump in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin — but her slight lead is either within or just barely outside the margin of error.
Former President Donald Trump (left) and Vice President Kamala Harris are essentially neck and neck in the battleground states. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
Vice President Kamala Harris is just barely pulling ahead of former President Donald Trump in the battleground states, according to CNN/SSRS polls released Wednesday.
Harris polls above Trump in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, the poll found — though her slight lead is either within or just barely outside the margin of error. The candidates are tied at 47 percent in Pennsylvania, and Trump leads Harris by 5 points in Arizona.
Across the battleground states, Trump polled above Harris when voters were asked which candidate they trusted more to handle the economy and immigration. Both are major liabilities for Harris’ campaign, and Trump and his surrogates have continuously bashed her vice presidency as one that saw major inflation and a worsening crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Harris polled above Trump when it came to protecting democracy and on abortion and reproductive rights, two issues upon which Harris has built her campaign as she seeks to define herself as a foil to Trump, who set in motion the overturn of the federal right to abortion and denied losing the election in 2020.
In Arizona, 62 percent of likely voters said they would support a state constitutional amendment creating the fundamental right to abortion, according to the poll.
Fifty percent or more of the likely voters across the battleground states said Trump’s views and policies were too extreme. Just under half said the same about Harris, whose momentum the Trump campaign is trying to slow with television ads calling her “dangerously liberal.”
Democratic Senate candidates are running slightly ahead of Harris in the battleground states. In Nevada, the poll shows Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen leading GOP nominee Sam Brown outside the margin of error, 50 percent to 40 percent. In Michigan and Wisconsin, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, respectively, have slight leads over their Republican opponents. The races in Arizona and Pennsylvania are inside the margin of error; in Pennsylvania, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. and GOP candidate Dave McCormick are dead even, just like the presidential race there.
The poll was conducted for CNN by the independent firm SSRS Research between Aug. 23 and Aug. 29. A total of 4,398 registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin found from a registration-based sample were surveyed online and by phone. The margin of error varied by state from plus or minus 4.5 percentage points to plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.