MSNBC national political data correspondent Steve Kornacki reported that Vice President Kamala Harris’s popularity has significantly declined just weeks before the election. A recent CNBC poll shows Trump taking a national lead over Harris, with 48% to her 46% in October, after having trailed her in previous months, Kornacki stated on “Chris Jansing Reports.” Harris’s lead has diminished concurrently with a drop in her positive ratings since September, as her negative rating is now ten points higher than her positive rating.
“I think the bigger picture story, this suggests as well in our NBC poll, it asks about the basic perception of the two candidates here,” Kornacki said during a show segment. “Do you have a positive or negative feeling toward Trump, toward Harris and you can see right here, neither one of them has a greater positive than negative. They’re both not that popular. But Trump, you can see the gap here, 42% positive, he is 6 points underwater on this question. Harris, 39% positive, 49% negative, she’s ten points negative on this question.”
Harris maintained a favorable rating on the positive and negative scale during the early months of her campaign, but those numbers have since plummeted, Kornacki noted. He suggested that Harris’s drop in popularity is likely “linked” to her decline in the national polls. “And the significance here is the trajectory of the Harris campaign on this sort of feelings thermometer,” he said.
“When she first got in the race, she first entered, she basically was in the same ballpark as Trump on positive and negative, after about six weeks as a candidate, she had actually in our poll moved above water on this question, a couple weeks ago we were polling this and she had a higher positive than negative and she had established an advantage. But now, our NBC poll a couple weeks ago and now this CNBC poll both find that this advantage that she seemed to have established here back in September on this question, is gone and she’s back in that underwater territory with Trump again,” the data analyst continued.
The vice president’s media blitz with predominantly friendly outlets throughout October coincided with her declining popularity. Kornacki noted during an October 14 segment that Harris’s positive rating fell by five points compared to the previous month, while her negative rating rose from 45% in September to 49%. Harris, who joined the top of the ticket in mid-July, briefly pulled ahead of Trump for several weeks while she avoided participating in a sit-down interview or holding a press conference.
In a new Wall Street Journal poll published Thursday, Trump is leading Harris nationally by 47% to 45%. Additionally, as of Friday, the former president held a 0.8-point lead over Harris in every swing state, according to RealClearPolitics averages. Polling results have historically underestimated Trump’s support on a national level and in swing states during the 2016 and 2020 elections, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten stated on Thursday, the Daily Caller noted.
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