by Linley Sanders and Jonathan J. Cooper
WASHINGTON — Until recently, Lillian Dunsmuir of Bullhead City, Arizona, “didn’t really think about” Kamala Harris and had no opinion of the vice president. But now she likes what she’s seeing.
“She’s funny. I think she’s very smart. She can speak well,” said Dunsmuir, a 58-year-old real estate agent. “I would feel safe with her because I think she can handle herself with foreign leaders. I like her because she’s for pro-choice, and so am I.”
Voters view Harris slightly more favorably than they did in July, just after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The Democratic presidential nominee is now seen more positively than negatively. Former President Donald Trump’s favorability ratings remained steady, although the poll was conducted prior to the apparent assassination attempt of the Republican nominee on his golf course in Florida on Sunday.
According to the survey, about half of voters have a somewhat or very positive view of Harris, and 44% have a somewhat or very negative view. That’s a small shift since late July, just after Biden dropped out of the race, when views of Harris were slightly more unfavorable than favorable. Six in 10 voters, meanwhile, have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Trump, while about 4 in 10 have a somewhat or very favorable view of him.
Changes in views of national figures like Biden, Trump or Harris have been rare over the past few years. Trump’s favorability rating didn’t budge over the course of the summer, despite a felony conviction, a close call with a would-be assassin in Pennsylvania, and a new opponent in the presidential contest.
But Trump has prevailed in the past with similarly low favorability ratings. He won the 2016 election despite being broadly unpopular, and came close to winning in 2020 under similar conditions.
The survey also found that relatively small shares of voters — around one-third — say the phrase “would change the country for the better” describes Trump or Harris extremely or very well, suggesting that voters retain some gloom about their options in the race.
“Everyone talks about how polarized we are. I don’t see the election solving that,” said Sean Luebbers, a 55-year-old high school history teacher in Upland, California, who supports Harris. “I don’t see Harris solving that. I think a lot of the damage has already been done, so I’m not hopeful that the election will solve that. Right now, you might call it triage. We can’t make things worse.”
Still, there are other signs in the poll that Harris’ introduction to the country is continuing to go well. Voters are more likely to say that Harris would make a good president and that the Republican former president would not make a good president. About half of voters say that Harris would make a good president, while 36% of voters say that about Trump. And voters think Harris has a better chance of winning the election in November, though a substantial share say the candidates are equally likely to win or don’t have an opinion.
In another potentially promising finding for Harris, independent voters view her a little more favorably compared to Trump, although a sizable share of independents view both candidates negatively. Among independents, 3 in 10 say they don’t know enough to say whether Harris would make a good president, while 1 in 10 say that about Trump, suggesting the vice president has more room to gain ground than her rival on that measure.
Opinions about Trump on a variety of attributes are generally more formed than opinions about Harris. About 6 in 10 voters say the phrase “will say anything to win the election” describes Trump “extremely” or “very” well. About 4 in 10 voters say that phrase describes Harris at least very well.
Voters are more likely to say “would change the country for the better” describes Harris extremely or very well. They’re also more likely to see Harris over Trump as someone who would fight for people like them.
Despite attempts by Trump to cast Harris as a weak alternative, voters are similarly likely to think that Trump and Harris are tough enough to be president.
“I think that was his biggest problem — he was a strong leader and they didn’t like it,” Pat Brumfield, a 71-year-old retired administrator from Glenwood, West Virginia, said of Trump. That strength, she said, could benefit the country now.
“I think that we need it,” said Brumfield, who described herself as a lifelong Democrat, but said she’s become disillusioned with the party and won’t vote for Harris. “After almost four years of Biden barely getting around, I think it’s put a black eye on the whole nation.”
On both sides of the political aisle, Republican and Democratic voters have stronger feelings about their opponent than their own party’s candidate. For example, Democratic voters were more likely to say that Trump would not change the country for the better or fight for people like them than they were to say Harris would do these things.
Republicans are a little more divided on Trump than Democrats are on Harris on some attributes. About one-third of Republican voters say “will say anything to win the election” describes Trump very or extremely well, while only 15% of Democratic voters say that about Harris.
Democratic voters, meanwhile, now have stronger positive feelings about Harris than Republican voters do about Trump. About 9 in 10 Democratic voters have a somewhat or very favorable view of their nominee, while about 8 in 10 Republican voters say the same about Trump.
“I think she really understands, and I think her understanding of how expensive child care is, how impossible it is for first-time homebuyers to buy anything,” said Chanda Harcourt, a 54-year-old writer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who supports Harris. “She really has a grip on it.”
