Kamala Harris bests Donald Trump in most swing states, new poll shows – live | US elections 2024
New poll shows Harris besting Trump in most battleground states as signs of vice-president's edge mount
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Ever since she took over as the Democratic presidential nominee late last month, it has been apparent that Kamala Harris has the sort of momentum with voters that Joe Biden never had during his abandoned bid for a second term. This morning, the Cook Political Report released polling showing the vice-president ahead of Donald Trump or tied with him in six of the seven battleground states. It was a reversal from when they last surveyed voters in May, and found that the former president led Biden in each one. Progressive youth voter group NextGen America also found yesterday that Harris is beating Trump among voters under 35, and by a much larger margin than when Biden was in the race.
The vice-president has no campaign events scheduled for today, though her running mate Tim Walz is making speeches in Colorado and Massachusetts. Both are undoubtedly preparing for next week’s Democratic national convention in Chicago, when they’ll have a chance to reintroduce themselves to an even bigger swath of voters.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
Primaries last night put progressive congresswoman Ilhan Omar on the path to continue representing her Minnesota district, and saw voters in Wisconsin reject yet another effort by the GOP to undermine the power of the swing state’s Democratic governor.
Inflation has continued to fall, reaching a level not seen since early 2021, according to just-released consumer price data from the US government.
Trump will speak about his economic plans at 4pm ET in Asheville, North Carolina – a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 2008, but where the Cook poll says Harris has a small lead.
Key events
Harris campaign to spend $90m on television ads through August
Ever since jumping into the presidential race, Kamala Harris has been raking in donations. Now, her campaign is putting that money to use, with an announcement this morning of $90m in television ads targeted at media markets in the midwest where they say Donald Trump is “ceding the airwaves”.
Here’s more, from Harris’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks:
On the heels of our historic launch, we know that the more voters hear during the month of August about the differences between Vice President Harris’ long-standing history of delivering common-sense solutions for the American people – from her early days as a prosecutor to the present – and Donald Trump’s dangerous, extreme and out-of-touch Project 2025 agenda, the more they will know that Vice President Harris is the only candidate fit to lead our country over the next four years. It is precisely through efforts like this that we will break through a crowded media environment early and make clear the choice and stakes of this election for the voters who will decide it.
In addition to airing in swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the ads will air in Ohio, which is expected to vote for Trump in November, but where its Democratic senator Sherrod Brown is running for another term. His victory is essential to Democrats’ hopes of maintaining the chamber.
New poll shows Harris besting Trump in most battleground states as signs of vice-president's edge mount
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Ever since she took over as the Democratic presidential nominee late last month, it has been apparent that Kamala Harris has the sort of momentum with voters that Joe Biden never had during his abandoned bid for a second term. This morning, the Cook Political Report released polling showing the vice-president ahead of Donald Trump or tied with him in six of the seven battleground states. It was a reversal from when they last surveyed voters in May, and found that the former president led Biden in each one. Progressive youth voter group NextGen America also found yesterday that Harris is beating Trump among voters under 35, and by a much larger margin than when Biden was in the race.
The vice-president has no campaign events scheduled for today, though her running mate Tim Walz is making speeches in Colorado and Massachusetts. Both are undoubtedly preparing for next week’s Democratic national convention in Chicago, when they’ll have a chance to reintroduce themselves to an even bigger swath of voters.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
Primaries last night put progressive congresswoman Ilhan Omar on the path to continue representing her Minnesota district, and saw voters in Wisconsin reject yet another effort by the GOP to undermine the power of the swing state’s Democratic governor.
Inflation has continued to fall, reaching a level not seen since early 2021, according to just-released consumer price data from the US government.
Trump will speak about his economic plans at 4pm ET in Asheville, North Carolina – a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 2008, but where the Cook poll says Harris has a small lead.