The latest Wall Street Journal poll shows former President Donald Trump statistically tied nationally with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The poll finds that Harris is 1 point ahead of Trump, 48% to 47%, among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup. She leads him by 2 points, 47% to 45%, if independent and third-party candidates are on the ballot. The results fall within the margin of error, making it a "too close to call" assessment.
The survey, released Thursday, marks the first time Harris has led Trump head-to-head in any of the Journal's previous polls dating back to last year. A Journal poll released late last month showed Trump with a 2-point lead over the vice president.
While the new poll finds 49% view Harris favorably and 49% view her unfavorably, voters aren't too keen on how she handled her job as vice president — with 42% approving and 51% disapproving.
Michael Bocian, a Democratic pollster who worked on the survey, told the Journal, "Voters are assessing her job approval as Biden's vice president, but they are assessing her as her own candidate for president." He said, "She has emerged successfully as a candidate."
But David Lee, a Republican pollster who worked on the survey, said after weeks of positive media coverage and a bump from the Democratic National Convention, "Kamala Harris has managed to tie Donald Trump nationally — and a tie nationally points to a sizable electoral win for Trump."
He cited the 2016 election, in which Democrat Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by more than 2 percentage points but lost in the Electoral College vote to Trump.
The Journal poll surveyed 1,500 registered voters from Aug. 24-28. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Kate McManus ✉
Kate McManus is a New Jersey-based Newsmax writer who's spent more than two decades as a journalist.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.