Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris by 1 point in new national poll

Former President Donald Trump led Vice President Kamala Harris by one point in a new national poll, less than a week after she launched her 2024 White House bid.

The survey, released Thursday by the New York Times and Siena College, showed Trump leading Harris 48 to 47 percent among likely voters. It’s well within the poll’s margin of sampling error for the group – 3.4 percentage points.

Among registered voters, Harris garnered 46% support to Trump’s 48%. The margin of error for registered voters is 3.3 percentage points.

Though Harris still appears behind Trump, the results show a real change for Democrats. President Joe Biden trailed Trump by six percentage points in a Times/Siena poll released earlier this month.

Biden announced on Sunday that he was ending his presidential campaign and would not seek a second term in office. The decision came after weeks of Democratic strife after the president’s disastrous debate performance, as some Democrats called on Biden to drop out and others insisted the party stick with the incumbent president. Biden himself insisted he would be the Democratic nominee in the wake of the debate before ultimately changing his mind.

The Times/Siena poll released on Thursday found that 14% of Democrats would prefer an option other than Harris. Seventy percent said they wanted Democrats to back Harris instead of participating in another kind of process to consider multiple candidates.

The survey also showed Harris ahead by ten percentage points among voters under 45. Less than three weeks ago, Trump held a slight edge over Biden among this demographic. Trump and Harris were tied – 43% to 43% – when voters were asked which candidate could unify the country. Harris led Trump when voters were asked who has the temperament to be an effective president, but Trump led Harris on a question asking which White House hopeful is a “strong leader.”

While any challengers to Harris still have a few days to toss their hat in the ring, it doesn’t look likely. All of the Democrats, who political observers expected to potentially launch a presidential campaign after Biden dropped out, have instead coalesced behind her. That list included California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, among others, but they both quickly endorsed Harris.

The poll was conducted from July 22 to July 24 among 1,142 registered voters across the country.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump leading Kamala Harris by 1 point in national poll