Donald Trump’s hopes despite many bad polls

For former President Donald Trump, despite a string of poor poll results, there may be a bright spot following Vice President Kamala Harris’ strong performance at the debate.

Several polls conducted since the candidates faced off in Philadelphia on Tuesday show Harris holding a small lead over Trump. The polls also suggest that a clear majority of Americans believe the Democratic nominee defeated the Republican in the Sept. 10 debate.

Even though Harris has seen a small increase in approval ratings, Trump still leads when it comes to which candidate is more likely to be trusted to tackle economic and immigration issues – issues that voters have consistently identified as the most important concerns in this year’s election.

Although the full impact of the debate and issues such as Trump’s alleged second assassination attempt is not yet apparent in last week’s polls, the majority of the surveys indicate a small to moderate improvement for Harris.

Polls conducted by TIPP Insights showed that Harris was only able to increase her lead over Trump by one percentage point. Before the debate, her lead was 48 to 45 percent, after the argument on stage it was 47 to 43 percent.

The same one-percentage-point gain was also recorded in an Ipsos/Reuters poll conducted on September 11 and 12. According to the poll, the Vice President increased his lead from four percentage points before the debate to five percentage points afterward.

An ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted Sept. 11-13 found that Harris’ approval rating increased by 1 percent among all adults after the debate, while her lead over the former president among registered and likely voters remained the same as before the debate.

The poll found that 52 percent of likely voters preferred Harris over Trump, who was supported by 46 percent. The same lead was evident in a version of the poll conducted shortly before the debate.

But while the former president was still six points behind Harris, he continued to have a seven-point lead over the vice president on the economy and inflation and a ten-point lead on immigration.

Even in a poll that gave Harris her largest overall lead after the debate last week, Trump maintained a similar lead on the issues: Among registered voters, she was ahead of Trump 50 percent to 45 percent, according to a YouGov/Yahoo News poll.

In a version of the same poll conducted August 22-26, shortly after she accepted her party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention, Harris was ahead by just 47 percent to 46 percent.

Despite the sharp rise in Harris’ approval ratings, voters in the latest poll said Trump would “handle immigration better” than the vice president, by a margin of 47 percent to 37 percent. He would also handle the cost of living better, by a margin of 42 percent to 40 percent.

Newsweek reached out to Harris and Trump’s campaign teams via email on Monday, requesting comment.

A YouGov poll conducted partly before and partly after the debate – on September 10 and 11 – found that Harris was trailing Trump on eight different key issues in the election, including the economy, inflation, immigration, crime, veterans, taxes, national defense and foreign policy.

Harris led the YouGov poll on issues such as abortion rights, the environment and health care. Other polls suggest the vice president is also ahead of Trump on issues such as protecting democracy, combating gun violence and improving race relations.