New Morning Consult presidential election poll: Harris leads Trump

As Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump vie for voters in key swing states, another national poll shows Harris with a slight lead over her opponent.

The race for the White House has been neck and neck as Democrat Harris and Republican Trump make the final pitches of their campaigns for the presidency. With just one week to go until Election Day, a new poll from Morning Consult shows Harris with a three percentage point lead on Trump.

The Morning Consult poll of 8,807 likely voters showed Harris leading Trump 50% to 47%. The poll, conducted Friday to Sunday (Oct. 25-27), had a 1 percentage point margin of error.

Released Tuesday morning, the poll comes as Trump plans for an evening rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, located about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, and Harris is set to appear for a rally in Washington, D.C.

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While Harris’ lead was down from a four-percentage-point lead in a similar poll last week, 45% of likely voters say they’ve recently heard something positive about the Democrat, “maintaining the positive buzz advantage she’s held throughout the campaign,” the poll said. Meanwhile, almost half of those surveyed, 49%, said they’ve recently heard something negative about Trump.

At the same time, Republicans remain more favored than Democrats to handle the economy, national security, crime and immigration. Democrats, though, are more trusted on health care, climate change and abortion, the poll noted.

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Things to keep in mind about polling

A poll’s margin of error describes how accurately we can count on the survey results being representative of the entire population.

When a candidate’s lead is “inside” the margin of error, it is considered a “statistical tie,” according to Pew Research Center.

Pew has also found the majority of pollsters have changed their methods since the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, where Trump’s performance was significantly underestimated.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com