Poll shows Americans view Harris as more intelligent — but see Trump as the better leader

Kamala Harris is viewed as more intelligent than Donald Trump by American voters, with the right temperament needed to be an effective president, according to the latest New York Times/Siena poll.

But despite the VP’s positive traits, people are still much more likely to see Trump as a strong leader (60 per cent, to Harris’ 47 per cent).

With one a former president and three-time presidential candidate, and the other an incumbent VP but first-time (likely) candidate, the question of leadership is front-and-center.

While Trump has the benefit of dozens of white men who have laid the path to the Oval Office in the minds of voters, Harris fights a steeper battle to be perceived a “strong leader”. If elected, she would be the first female president of the United States, and only the second person of color.

The NYT/Siena poll was conducted among 1,142 registered voters last week between 22-24 July, after Biden stepped down as the Democratic candidate.

Interestingly, both Trump and Harris were tied at a joint low of 43 per cent on whether voters believe they can unify the country.

However, Republicans were slightly more convinced that Trump could bring the country together (85 per cent), while Democrats thought the same of Harris, but a little less so at 81 per cent.

Registered Independents were the least likely to believe that either candidate would bring unity to the United States.

For the most part, Republicans and Democrats were faithful to their prospective presidential candidates when attributing positive traits.

However, this did not exclude voters from seeing positive aspects in the opposing party’s candidate.

For example, a substantial third (33 per cent) of Republican voters said that they viewed Harris as