WASHINGTON: Kamala Harris has consolidated her polling lead over Donald Trump on economic issues, especially among voters who watched the presidential debate last week, according to the first big economy-focused election survey since the televised showdown.
For the second straight month, the FT-Michigan Ross poll showed Harris with a slim lead over Trump on stewardship of the economy, with 44 per cent of registered voters saying they trusted the Democratic vice-president to run the economy and 42 per cent backing the Republican ex-president. Last month, she led 42 per cent to 41 per cent.
Harris fared even better with voters who tuned in to last week’s debate, which was watched by an estimated 67mn Americans, according to Nielsen.
Of the nearly three-quarters of respondents who said they watched all or part of the 90- minute debate, 48 per cent said they trusted Harris more to manage the economy, compared with 42 per cent for Trump. Among those who said they did not watch the debate, 41 per cent trusted the former president and just 35 per cent favoured Harris.
The poll was conducted in the two days after the debate. It comes just a few days before the Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut US interest rates, a signal it is confident that a period of high inflation has been vanquished.
The poll found that voters believe Harris better represents the interests of the middle class, small businesses, union members and blue-collar workers. Trump was seen to better represent the interests of large corporations and the wealthy.
When asked which candidate represented “people like you”, 47 per cent of respondents cited Harris while 37 per cent pointed to Trump.
Despite that, voters still said that they would be better off financially if Trump won, with 40 per cent saying they would either be somewhat or much better off under his presidency, and just 35 per cent saying they would be better off under Harris.
Since the Financial Times and University of Michigan Ross School of Business began polling on economic issues nearly a year ago, Biden never beat Trump on the question of who voters trusted more to manage the economy. Harris’s support from 44 per cent of Americans is an eight-point improvement over Biden.
With less than two months to go until election day, the race for the White House remains close.
The FT poll tracker shows Harris with a 2.2 percentage point lead over Trump nationally, but in a virtual tie in the seven swing states likely to decide the election.
The FT-Michigan Ross Poll was conducted online by Democratic strategists Global Strategy Group and Republican polling firm North Star Opinion Research from September 11-12.
