A contentious new poll released on Friday shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump by a significant seven points.
A survey from Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) shows Harris outperforming Trump with 50 percent of the vote, while Trump follows with 43 percent.
Regarding independent voters, Harris has a narrower lead with 38 percent, while Trump stands at 33 percent.
The poll also showed that Trump maintains strong support from men “who hold traditionally masculine identities.”
“Trump has built his political career around a very specific performance of whiteness and masculinity,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at FDU and the executive director of the poll, in a release.
“In the past, that’s been seen as a strength, but it’s no longer clear that it’s working.”
He also noted that race played a key factor in the results.
“Race matters in elections, but it’s not inevitable that voters are thinking about it,” Cassino added. “Trump does reasonably well among nonwhite voters so long as they’re not thinking about race: Once they are, we see a huge shift to Harris.”
The poll was administered before the Democratic National Convention ended between Aug. 17 and Aug. 20 and was before Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced putting his campaign on hold.
Kennedy received five percent of the vote, which could be a determining factor in the election. After he endorsed Trump, experts are expecting a change in the polls, as many Kennedy supporters might flock to the Trump campaign.
However, the poll seems to be an exception, as the RealClearPolitics average shows her leading Trump by only 1.5 points, which is well within the margin of error.
Over the last few weeks, other polls have also shown the race between Harris and Trump being extremely close. A Rasmussen Reports poll which was released on Thursday showed Harris trailing Trump by three percent, 46 to 49.
That poll was conducted on Aug. 15 and between Aug. 18 and Aug. 21. It surveyed 1,893 likely voters and had a three percent margin of error, according to Newsweek.
On Saturday, FiveThirtyEight showed Harris in the lead, beating Trump by 3.6 percentage points, with Harris receiving 47.2 percent to Trump’s 43.6 percent.
The New York Times gave Harris a two-point lead over Trump, with 49 to 47.
The FDU poll was conducted using 801 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3.5 percent.
Source: Resistthemainstream
