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Harris builds lead over Trump; voters see her as debate winner, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows
Among the voters, 53 percent said Harris won and 24 percent said Trump won the Sept. 10 presidential debate.
People watch the presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at a watch party hosted by the New York Young Republican Club, in New York City, U.S., September 10, 2024. / REUTERS/Adam Gray/File Photo
Democratic U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris leads Republican Donald Trump 47 percent to 42 percent in the race to win the Nov. 5 presidential election, increasing her advantage after a debate against the former president that voters largely think she won, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Sept.12.
The two-day poll showed Harris with a five percentage point lead among registered voters, just above the four-point advantage she had over Trump in an Aug. 21-28 Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Among voters who said they had heard at least something about Sept. 10 debate, 53 percent said Harris won and 24 percent said Trump won, with the rest saying neither had or not answering. Some 52 percent of those familiar with the debate said Trump stumbled and didn't appear sharp, while 21 percent said that of Harris. Among Republican voters, one in five said Trump didn't appear sharp.
Harris, 59, put Trump, 78, on the defensive in a combative presidential debate with a stream of attacks on his fitness for office and his myriad legal woes, highlighting Trump's felony conviction on charges he falsified business records. Some 52 percent of voters familiar with the debate said Harris "gave the impression of having higher moral integrity," compared to 29 percent who said the same of Trump.
Many Republicans were also not convinced about their candidate's performance in the debate in Philadelphia. Some 53 percent of Republican voters in the poll said Trump won the debate, compared to 91 percent of Democrats who said she was the victor. Among Republicans, 31 percent said no one won and 14 percent said Harris got the better of Trump.
Ninety-one percent of registered voters in the poll said they had heard at least something of the debate and 44 percent said they had heard a great deal. The debate, hosted by ABC News, attracted 67.1 million television viewers, according to Nielsen data, topping the roughly 51 million people who watched Trump debate then-candidate President Joe Biden in June.
Biden's disastrous performance in that debate led to widespread calls by the 81-year-old leader's fellow Democrats for him to drop his re-election bid, which he did in July. Now Trump is the older candidate in the race, and the poll found 52 percent of voters consider Trump too old to work in government, compared to 7 percent who said the same of Harris.
Voters generally gave Harris better marks than Trump on how she carried herself. Asked which of the two appeared more dignified, 56 percent of people familiar with the debate picked Harris, compared to 24 percent who picked Trump. Forty-nine percent said Harris "seemed like someone who would listen to me and understand my concerns," compared to 18 percent who saw Trump that way.
The poll surveyed 1,690 U.S. adults nationwide, including 1,405 registered voters. It had a margin of error of around three percentage points for registered voters.
While national surveys including Reuters/Ipsos' polls give important signals on the views of the electorate, the state-by-state results of the Electoral College determine the winner, with a handful of battleground states likely to be decisive.
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