Kamala Harris Gets Favorability Boost, Closes Gap for First Time in 3 Years

Kamala Harris has seen a notable rise in favorability, achieving a positive net favorability rating for the first time in three years.
Aggregator FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker showed that Harris’ negative rating began to decrease dramatically after July 21, when she became the candidate for the Democratic nomination for president.
On July 20, her unfavorable rating was 16 points ahead of her positive rating, with 52.7 percent of Americans viewing her unfavorably compared to 36.8 percent who viewed her in a positive light. By July 27, the gap between the two ratings had dropped to 9.6 points, with 50.4 percent of Americans taking a negative view of her compared to 40.8 percent who thought the opposite.
Since then, the gap has continued to close, with FiveThirtyEight’s tracker now showing her positive and negative ratings are neck-and-neck, with 46.6 percent of Americans viewing her favorably, while the same percentage of Americans have an unfavorable view of her.
This marks the first time since July 17, 2021, that Harris’ ratings have been almost equal. At that time, her favorability was at 46 percent, with 45 percent holding an unfavorable opinion.
It came as a majority of the polls conducted since the first presidential debate between Harris and Donald Trump on September 10 in Philadelphia showed the vice president achieving a positive net favorability rating. Both candidates claimed victory, but a CNN flash poll conducted shortly after the debate revealed 63 percent of viewers thought Harris had won, compared to 37 percent who said the same about Trump.
A Morning Consult poll conducted between September 13 and 16 gave Harris a positive net favorability rating of 7 points among 2,037 likely voters, with 53 percent viewing her positively compared to 46 percent of Americans who view her negatively.
A Big Village poll conducted between September 11 and 15, gave Harris a positive net favorability rating of 8 points among 1,568 likely voters, with 53 percent viewing her favorably compared to 45 percent of Americans who view her unfavorably.
An Angus Reid Global poll from September 13 to 16 showed that Harris’ positive and negative ratings were evenly split among 1,707 registered voters. In contrast, an AtlasIntel poll from September 11 to 12 indicated that more Americans viewed her unfavorably than favorably.
On September 11, the day after the debate, Harris’ net favorability rating stood at -0.8 points. Before the debate, polls fluctuated, with some indicating that more Americans viewed her favorably than unfavorably, while others showed the opposite.
Although polls have not always been consistent, they show that Harris has better favorability ratings than her opponent, Trump.
The Republican’s favorability rating currently stands at 42.8 percent, while 52.7 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of him. Not a single poll conducted since Harris became the Democratic candidate has shown that more Americans view him positively than negatively.
Morning Consult’s poll showed that 54 percent of voters view him unfavorably, while only 44 percent view him favorably. Angus Reid’s survey resulted in 54 percent of voters viewing him unfavorably, while only 43 percent view him taking the opposite stance.
However, FiveThirtyEight’s tracker shows that Trump’s positive/negative margins have decreased since July, with the gap between the two standing at 12.1 points on July 20 compared to 9.9 points now.
Nonetheless, FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker still showed that Harris is ahead by three points, on 48.3 percent to Trump’s 45.3 percent. That is an increase from her 2.5 point lead before the debate.
FiveThirtyEight’s Forecast model also showed that Harris is predicted to win the Electoral College in November, with 294 votes to Trump’s 244. That is up from 279 votes to Trump’s 259 votes on the day of the debate.
However, Nate Silver’s Electoral College forecast showed Trump has a 60 percent chance of winning to Harris’ 38 percent.
Newsweek has contacted the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment via email.