Can Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump? Latest poll updates

In less than 34 days, Vice President Kamala Harris will go head-to-head with Donald Trump as Americans cast their votes in the 2024 election.

Following last night’s vice presidential debate, viewers were not won over by either candidate’s performance – though JD Vance exceeded expectations, scraping ahead of Tim Walz.

Pre-debate, the polls showed that Vance’s popularity has hit record lows, while Walz was more popular than all current VP and presidential candidates; but last night’s face-off may well bolster Vance’s poor public perception.

Just 1 percent of voters have said the debate changed their mind about how they will vote. So how will Harris and Trump fare in November?

Harris has a 2.7-point lead over Trump in the latest average of national polls, collated by FiveThirtyEight. On average, Harris has been marginally ahead of Trump in national polls for several weeks.

Last night’s debate between Ohio senator Vance and Minnesota Governor Walz turned expectations on its head; with betting markets and pre-polls eyeing Walz as the presumed winner.

Yetsnap polls following the debate show that viewers were split on both candidates; and in fact, Vance came out a few points ahead.

A CBS/YouGov poll found that 42 percent of viewers considered Vance the debate winner, compared to 41 percent for Walz.

However, Walz did emerge as more in touch with the average American, and more likely to share voters’ vision for America.

For the full post-debate polling analysis, click here.

While exclusive polling for The Independent suggested that the VP debate could make a mark on the presidential race, just 1 percent of last night’s viewers said that their voting choices had changed.

Our analysis before the debate found that Walz