CV NEWS FEED // In a poll conducted by SSRS for CNN on Tuesday, a strong majority of respondents indicated that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris performed better than Republican nominee Donald Trump in that night’s debate, hosted by ABC.
The same poll’s respondents, however, overwhelmingly indicated that Trump would “better handle” the economy and immigration – among the top issues of the 2024 election cycle.
The text message poll found that 63% of respondents thought Harris did a “better job” in the September 10 debate, compared to 37% who said Trump had a better showing.
The voters were asked to give their response “regardless of which candidate you support.”
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From August 30 to September 2, respondents were also asked to indicate the candidate they “think is likely to do a better job in the then-upcoming debate.” The result was an even 50-50 split, with half saying Harris would do a better job, and the other half saying Trump would perform better.
Also after the debate, SSRS asked the respondents “regardless which candidate you support, who would better handle” a variety of issues.
When it came to the economy, widely named by voters to be the most important issue in determining their presidential choice in November, respondents said Trump would do the better job by a 20-point margin – 55% to Harris’ 35%.
The result comes as critics scrutinize several of Harris’ announced economic policies, including her proposed ban on “price gouging” and a tax on unrealized capital gains for the wealthy.
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On the issue of immigration, the poll found that voters trusted Trump by an even wider margin of 23 points. Fifty-six percent said that he “would better handle” the issue, compared to 33% for Harris.
Among the survey’s respondents, Trump also edged Harris on the issue of “being commander-in-chief,” a title used to refer to the president’s role at the helm of the U.S. military.
Forty-nine percent of respondents indicated the former president would “better handle” being the country’s commander-in-chief, six points higher than the 43% who said the same for Harris.
Harris held an advantage over Trump on the other two issues named in the poll: “protecting democracy” and abortion.
On “protecting democracy,” Harris led Trump 49% to 40%.
Since she replaced President Joe Biden as the race’s Democratic candidate, Harris has taken criticism from onlookers across the political spectrum over the fact that she was not on the ballot during her party’s primaries. Critics of Harris on the political left in particular have complained that the Democratic Party’s leadership “installed” her without her being subjected to any democratic process.
Unsurprisingly, Harris also led the poll’s respondents on the issue of abortion, with 52% saying she “would better handle” the issue while 31% said the same for Trump.
Eleven percent of voters said that neither candidate would handle abortion better – making it the only issue in the poll with more than 6% of voters feeling this way.
Past polling shows that voters generally consider abortion to be a less important issue in this election cycle compared to both the economy and the border crisis.
Also following the debate, SSRS asked voters “how much confidence” they have in each major party nominee’s “ability to lead the country.”
Notably, an identical percentage of voters – 54% – said that they had either a lot of or some confidence in the leadership abilities of Trump and Harris.
Conversely, an identical percentage – 46% – said they had “no real confidence” in Trump or Harris.