Kamala Harris expands lead over Donald Trump, ahead in key swing states too

US Vice-President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has taken a five-point lead over Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the race for the November 5 US presidential election, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. The survey, conducted from August 2-7, shows Harris with 42% support, while Trump trails behind with 37%. She is also ahead of Trump in seven swing states where the fight was closest in the 2020 election.

This marks a two-point increase for Harris since the previous Reuters/Ipsos poll on July 22-23, which had her ahead by three points, 37% to 34%.

"The August Ipsos survey found more voters associated Trump than Harris with the word "patriot" - a regular part of Trump's campaign speeches - as well as with "weird," a word that Harris supporters have used to taunt Trump in recent weeks," according to Reuters.

The nationwide poll of 2,045 American adults also found that independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr has seen a decline in support, with only 4% backing him, down from 10% in July.

The poll was conducted independently by Ipsos and had a margin of error of approximately 3 percentage points, according to Reuters.

HARRIS 2-POINT LEAD IN SEVEN KEY STATES

Kamala Harris entered the race on July 21 after President Joe Biden, 81, ended his presidential campaign and endorsed her following a poor debate performance against Trump on June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia. After this debate, Democrats pressured Biden to withdraw from the race.

Harris officially became the Democratic presidential candidate on August 6 and chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.

In a separate poll, Ipsos found Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump 42% to 40% in the seven swing states where the 2020 election was closest: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Earlier, when Joe Biden was still in the race against Donald Trump, Biden was trailing Trump in six of these states, with only Wisconsin favouring the incumbent President Biden.

However, the latest poll results suggest a significant shift in the presidential race, with Harris gaining momentum as the election draws closer.