Harris vs. Trump: Latest presidential poll indicates small lead is exploding

Vice President Kamala Harris is expanding her lead against former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll.

Harris has a seven-point advantage over Trump — 50% to 43% — nationally, per the latest Fairleigh Dickinson University survey. The poll showed “Harris’ lead grows substantially” over questions of race and gender.

From the FDU poll: “Among voters who were not primed to think about the race or sex of the candidates, Harris and Trump are tied (47 to 48). When the list of issues mentions the sex of the candidates, Harris pulls ahead, 52 to 42. And when the race of the candidates is mentioned, Harris holds a 14-point lead, 53 to 39, a 15-point shift from the baseline condition.”

“When voters are thinking about race or sex, Trump’s support just plummets,” Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson and the executive director of the poll, said. “All the time, we hear strategists and pundits saying that Democratic candidates shouldn’t talk about identity, but these results show that making race and sex salient to voters is bad for Trump and boosts Harris.”

Other key takeaways from the survey:

Harris leads Trump 50 to 43 among likely voters.

Both Trump and Harris have the support of 95% of their respective political parties.

Harris leads Trump 38 to 33 among independents who do not lean toward either party

Seven percent said they will support someone else.

“Trump has built his political career around a very specific performance of whiteness and masculinity,” “In the past, that’s been seen as a strength, but it’s no longer clear that it’s working.”

Harris has replaced President Joe Biden atop the presidential ticket, but his “finish the job” campaign mantra can still largely apply to her top policy goals. She’s promising to continue a lot of what Biden was doing during the past four years if she’s elected to four of her own.

Trump, for his part, is itching to get back to the White House and accomplish what he didn’t during his first term.

Since Biden bowed out of the race month, the vice president has announced few major policy proposals beyond a new push to prevent price gouging by food producers and grocers and plans to cut taxes for families, attempt to bring down homebuying and rental prices and reduce medical debt.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.