WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has an edge over former President Donald Trump on several leadership qualities, including honesty, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But Americans are slightly more inclined to trust Trump on economic and immigration issues.
Nearly half of Americans say “devoted to democracy” and “disciplined” are qualities that best describe Harris. About three in 10 say these qualities best describe Trump.
About 4 in 10 say Harris is someone who “cares about people like you,” while about 3 in 10 say that about Trump. About 4 in 10 say “honest” describes Harris better, and 24% say quality describes Trump better.
Both parties are racing to define Harris as she prepares to accept the Democratic nomination at next week’s convention. The poll suggests she carries some of the same burdens that weighed down President Joe Biden before he withdrew from the re-election race, but has advantages compared to Trump. And Democrats remain much more comfortable with her candidacy than with Biden’s.
Trump campaigned on the campaign trail as a sturdy leader capable of handling the earnest crises facing the country, and suggested that foreign leaders would not respect Harris in the White House. But he has no advantage in that quality among Americans, according to the poll. Four in 10 American adults see Trump as a sturdy leader, and about the same share say the same about Harris. About four in 10 say Trump is capable of handling a crisis, and a similar share say Harris is better able to do so.
Americans are roughly equally divided on who they think has the better chance of winning in November – Trump or Harris. In July, before Biden dropped out of the race, only about two in ten Americans believed he had a better chance of winning, while about twice as many thought that of Trump.
“Trump had a better chance when Joe Biden was running,” said Lisa Miller, a 42-year-old student from Elko, Nevada, and a Republican. “I think a lot of people who were unsure about Joe Biden are more confident now that Kamala Harris is that age and doing so well.”
Trump has advantages in economy and immigration
When it comes to handling the economy or immigration, Americans are more likely to trust Trump than Harris, but the difference is tiny: 45 percent say Trump is better positioned to handle the economy, while 38 percent say that about Harris. The difference is similar when it comes to handling immigration. Independents are about twice as likely to trust Trump on economic issues as Harris, and they also give him the edge on immigration.
Howard Barnes, a 36-year-old artist from San Francisco, is a Republican who says he trusts Trump more than Harris on the border issue.
“She doesn’t seem to be really proactive or interested in this at all,” Barnes said.
Harris has a bigger advantage over Trump when it comes to handling issues such as race and racial inequality, abortion policy and health care. About half of American adults think Harris would handle these issues better than Trump, compared to about 3 in 10 for Trump. Harris is particularly sturdy among Democrats, independents and women on the issue of abortion policy.
Democrats and independents give her the edge on health care reform and on issues of race and racial inequality. About two-thirds of black adults say Harris is the candidate they trust more on this issue, as do about half of Hispanic and white adults.
Harris’ strengths also highlight two areas where Republicans give Trump relatively low marks: abortion policy and issues related to race and racial inequality. Only about six in 10 Republicans trust Trump more than Harris on these issues.
There are signs in the poll, however, that Harris could be in trouble. Only about six in 10 Democrats trust her to handle the war in Gaza better than Trump, her lowest rating within her party on the issues surveyed. About a quarter of Democrats say they trust neither Trump nor Harris on the issue.
Democrats are now more excited about the election
About two-thirds of Democrats say the term “excited” describes their feelings very well or completely if Harris is elected.
The enthusiasm represents a piercing turnaround from when Biden was the Democratic nominee: A March AP-NORC poll found that only 4 in 10 Democrats said “excited” would describe their feelings extremely or very well if he won another term. About 7 in 10 Democrats say “pleased” would describe their feelings at least very well if Harris won. That, too, is a change from March, when half of Democrats said that about Biden.
“There’s definitely joy and there’s definitely hope, and I feel like that’s something that’s been missing,” said Meaghan Dunfee, a 33-year-old public employee in Hamilton, New Jersey. “I don’t think we’ve had that on the Democratic side in a long time.”
About two in 10 independents say they would be either excited or satisfied if Harris were elected, up from their response to the Biden question in March. About half of independents say excitement describes their feelings at least “somewhat” well, up from just a quarter in March. A similar share of independents say they would be excited or satisfied if Trump were elected.
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Cooper reported from Phoenix.
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The survey of 1,164 adults was conducted August 8-12, 2024. The sample came from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is intended to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
