Kamala Harris Trails by 22 Points on Battleground’s Big Issue: New Poll

Donald Trump has a 22-point lead over Kamala Harris in the key swing state of Michigan when registered voters were asked which candidate would be best at securing the border”according to a recent survey. On this subject 56 percent said they preferred Trump, against 34 percent for Harris.
The poll found that in a straight race between Harris and Trump in the Great Lake State the Democratic candidate led by 48 percent of the vote to 46 percent with likely voters, though a plurality said the Republican nominee would be better for “growing the economy” and “securing the border.”
Michigan, which backed Trump in 2016, then President Joe Biden in 2020, looks set to be a crucial battleground state during the 2024 presidential election. The winning candidate will receive 15 Electoral College votes from Michigan, down one from the 16 it had at the last election.
From August 20 to 22 TechnoMetrica surveyed 1,001 Michigan registered voters, of whom 741 were identified as likely voters, on behalf of conservative campaign group American Greatness. The poll had a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.
Among registered voters the TechnoMetrica poll gave Trump a lead on which candidate would be better at growing the economy of 49 percent vs. 43 percent and on improving national security, where the Republican led by 52 percent against 39 percent.
However, Harris had a slight lead on reducing crime, 45 percent to 44 percent, while the two rivals were tied on reducing taxes at 45 percent of the vote each. Overall the survey found the two most important issues with Michigan voters by some margin were the economy and immigration.
The survey was conducted before independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his presidential campaign on August 23 and urged his supporters to vote for Trump in battleground states such as Michigan.
With Kennedy included, the survey found Harris had a one-point lead with 46 percent of the vote, followed by Trump on 45 percent and Kennedy with five percent.
Speaking to Newsweek, Donald Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said: “Americans know there is only one person who will secure the border and bring safety back to our communities — President Trump. Meanwhile, Comrade Kamala, the Border Czar, has let gangs, human smugglers, drug traffickers, and terrorists across the border, terrorizing every single neighborhood in America.”
Newsweek contacted representatives of the Kamala Harris presidential election campaign for comment by email on Monday outside of regular office hours.
Trump has repeatedly described Harris as Biden’s “border czar,” though she never officially held this title.
During her Democratic National Convention address in Chicago, Harris vowed that if she wins in November, she will bring back a failed bipartisan border bill which was shot down by opposition from Republicans in the House of Representatives earlier this year.
According to the most recent polling analysis by FiveThirtyEight, published on August 25, Harris enjoys a 3.6 percent lead over Trump with 47.2 percent of the vote against 43.7 percent.
A separate polling analysis conducted by Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin website gave Harris a four-percent lead on August 25, with 48.8 percent of the vote against 44.8 percent for Trump.
On Sunday, Trump claimed a Harris presidency would lead to “World War III” in a post on his Truth Social website, after Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, which it claimed were conducted to preempt a planned rocket and drone barrage.
Trump wrote: “Who is negotiating for us in the Middle East? Bombs are dropping all over the place! Sleepy Joe is sleeping on a Beach in California, viciously Exiled by the Democrats, and Comrade Kamala is doing a campaign bus tour with Tampon Tim, her really bad V.P. Pick. Let’s not have World War lll, because that’s where we’re heading!”
The Harris campaign shared a video on Saturday which appeared to show people yawning during Trump events with the caption “It’s getting old.”
Update 8/26/24, 10:01 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Donald Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung.