Donald Trump holds a 2-point lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in a head-to-head race for the White House and the former president owns a commanding advantage on key economic issues, according to a CNBC All-America Economic Survey.
Trump leads Harris 48%-46% in the CNBC survey. The 2-point edge is similar to that the former president held over President Joe Biden (45%-43%) in the NBC News July Survey.
By a 2-to-1 margin in the CNBC survey, Americans say they will be better off financially under Trump.
CNBC said "dramatic but offsetting changes beneath the surface for both sides that have kept the race even."
The latest survey followed an assassination attempt on Trump, and Harris replacing Biden as the Democrat presidential nominee. It was conducted before progressive Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was selected to be the Democrats' vice-presidential nominee.
"It is less now a referendum on Trump than it is a head-to-head competition between the two candidates," said Micah Roberts, partner at Public Opinion Strategies who served as the Republican pollster on the CNBC survey.
Trump's support among Republicans has grown to 80%, and 81% of Democrats say they support Harris after only 33% said they backed Biden.
Young voters provided a significant shift in the poll, with them now saying they back Harris by 10 points over Trump. In July, the group said they preferred the former president by 2 points.
Voters aged 35-49 support Trump by 9 points, in the CNBC poll.
Trump's economic advantage with Americans is largely driven by the 79% of Republicans who say their economic fortunes will improve if Trump wins. Only 48% of Democrats say they will be better off if Harris wins, compared with 42% who say it makes no difference.
Among independents, 31% say they will be better financially if Trump wins, 10% if Harris wins and 54% don't think it matters.
The Democrat pollster on the CNBC survey said Harris has lots of work to do in a short time.
"She's still carrying a lot of water for the administration," said Jay Campbell, partner at Hart Research.
"She has to answer for that and define herself independently. ... That's a lot of baggage to carry when you've got a compressed time frame against a mature campaign on Trump's side."
The CNBC poll was conducted July 31-Aug. 4 among 1,001 Americans. The poll has a margin of error of plus/minus 3.1%.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.