US Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump go into their first debate on Tuesday tied in a national poll of likely voters by The New York Times and Siena College published on Sunday.
Trump leads Harris (48 per cent against 47 per cent) in the poll, which has an error margin of 3 per cent.
The race remains largely unchanged, the New York Times reported from July, when Harris took over the Democratic ticket from President Joe Biden, citing a poll it had published then.
Trump “may have had a rough month following the president’s departure and amid the burst of excitement that the vice-president brought to the Democratic ticket”, the report said, adding, “the poll suggests his support remains remarkably resilient”.
The race is similarly tied in the seven battleground states surveyed by the New York Times with Harris either ahead of Trump or tied — Wisconsin (50 per cent – 47 per cent), Michigan (49 per cent – 47 per cent), Pennsylvania (49 per cent – 48 per cent), Nevada (48 per cent – 48 per cent), Arizona (48 per cent – 48 per cent), Georgia (48per cent – 48 per cent) and North Carolina (48 per cent – 48 per cent).
The vice-president leads the former president 48.1 per cent to 46.7 per cent in the average of national polls computed by RealClearPolitics and 47.3 per cent to 44.2 per cent in the weighted average of national poll by FiveThirtyEight.
Harris and Trump hold their first presidential debate on Tuesday in Philadelphia. There are no other debates on the schedule so far so this may be the first and only debate this cycle.
With early polling starting in many states this month and less than 60 days left until the close of casting of votes either by mail or in person on November 5, neither candidate has the luxury of time to reverse a setback. That will be especially so for Harris who faces her most significant test yet of this race on Tuesday.
Harris understands the stakes and has gone off the campaign trail largely and has been in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania since Thursday preparing for the debate.