Vice President Kamala Harris is underperforming President Biden in swing-state Georgia — trailing Donald Trump by 4.6 percentage points and underperforming with women and non-black minorities, according to a poll released just hours after Biden dropped his bid for a second term and endorsed Harris.
Trump would take 50.5% of the vote to Harris’ 45.9%, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found. The Republican also widened what was a 3.5% lead over Biden in the same poll – with women and non-white minorities contributing to Harris’s slightly worse performance.
The poll was conducted July 9-18 during a period in which Biden, 81, faced an avalanche of calls to drop out by fellow Democrats — during which the vice president was the clear frontrunner to replace him.
Among non-black racial minorities such as Asians and Latinos, who make up nearly one in 10 respondents, Trump went from an 8.2% edge against Biden to a 12% lead against Harris — a swing of 3.8 points.
Among women, Harris had a 7.4% edge versus Biden’s 9% edge.
Harris, the first female vice president and the first of African and South Asian ancestry, gained marginally among black voters.
Among men, Trump had a 19.8% lead over Harris, versus a 19.3% lead over Biden.
Among white voters, who comprised almost two-thirds of respondents, Trump had a 44.3% edge, versus his 43.2-point lead over Biden.
The poll had an overall 3.1% margin of error, suggesting that changes among sub-groups may not be statistically significant and require additional polling to confirm.
Harris will face a major test of internal party support during a virtual nomination vote in early August — scheduled so that the Democratic ticket can meet Ohio’s Aug. 7 ballot access deadline. Delegates can reopen voting on the floor of the Democratic convention Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.
Pundits have suggested that Harris may boost Democratic fortunes in other swing states such as Michigan, where furor among Arab and Muslim Americans over Biden’s support for the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip was widely believed to reduce his viability.