US Elections 2024: Kamala Harris widens lead over Donald Trump nationally, favourite among Asian Americans

US Elections 2024: Kamala Harris (59) is leading against opponent Donald Trump (78) nationally by 47 per cent to 40 per cent in the November 5 United States presidential election race, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on September 24.

Harris, who is the Democratic party's presidential nominee and US Vice President, seems to have "blunt Trump's edge on economy and jobs", a Reuters report noted. Trump is the Republican party nominee and a former US President.

It added that unrounded figures showed Harris had the support of 46.61 per cent of registered voters, while Trump was backed by 40.48 per cent of those surveyed — a 6 percentage point lead. The poll's margin of error is around 4 percentage points.

FiveThirtyEight.com's polling average also showed a "close race", with Harris leading Trump by 48.3 per cent to 45.8 per cent country-wide, the report said.

Neck-and-neck In ‘Battleground’ Swing States

The report added that the seven swing states, which are the key to winning the Electoral College and thus the US presidential election bid, have so far seen Harris and Trump tied evenly.

Both Harris and Trump are mostly even across "battleground" states, with any lead within the margin of error. Notably, an NYT/Siena College poll showed Trump ahead of Harris in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.

Economy, The Big Issue

For voters, the latest Reuters poll found that the economy is the single biggest election issue.

On which candidate had the better approach to the "economy, unemployment, and jobs," around 43 per cent of voters surveyed favoured Trump, and 41 per cent chose Harris. Notably, while Trump is leading, Harris has closed the gap by 8 percentage points compared to a July poll.

The poll, conducted from September 21-23, showed Harris positioned much better than the September 11-12 Reuters/Ipsos survey. 1,029 US adults took the survey online nationwide. It included 871 registered voters and 785 of these said they were “most likely to turn out on Election Day.”

Kamala Harris Favourite Among Asian Americans

Further, a poll by NORC at the University of Chicago showed that Harris leads Trump by a massive 38 percentage points among Asian American voters, PTI reported.

The poll found that around 66 per cent of Asian American voters plan on voting for Harris, compared to 28 per cent who back Trump for president. Undecided and third-party voters made up 6 per cent of those surveyed.

Even among the vice presidential (VP) nominee picks, Harris' running mate, Tim Walz, scored higher than Trump's partner, JD Vance, among Asian American voters. Walz saw "favourable" responses from 56 per cent of those surveyed, compared to 21 per cent who preferred Vance.

The polls also showed Asian American voters are far more likely to say they’ve been contacted by the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.

(With inputs from Reuters and PTI)