Dem
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GOP
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There were a whole bunch of state-level presidential polls yesterday. And getting lost in there was the newest from AP/NORC, which, if correct, is very interesting.
The poll, instead of being a "Who are you going to vote for?" poll, is a "Who do you trust on the issues?" poll. And here are the results:
| Issue | Harris | Trump | Net |
| The Economy | 41% | 43% | Trump +2% |
| Healthcare | 50% | 30% | Harris +20% |
| Crime | 40% | 39% | Harris +1% |
| Immigration | 40% | 45% | Trump +5% |
| Abortion Policy | 55% | 27% | Harris +28% |
| Gun Policy | 47% | 35% | Harris +12% |
| Climate Change | 54% | 15% | Harris +39% |
| Israel and Hamas | 33% | 36% | Trump +3% |
The margin of error on the poll is 3.4%.
We recognize that this is only one poll, and that these "who do you trust?" questions can be a little fuzzy. But if AP/NORC has the right of it, this is a disaster for Donald Trump. He appears to have ceded his previous large advantage on his core issues, particularly the economy, immigration and crime. Is that because Harris has successfully shed herself of Biden baggage? Or because Trump rarely talks about the issues (and when he does, he says crazypants stuff, like "they are eating cats and dogs")? Maybe both?
Meanwhile, Harris is crushing Trump on her key issues, particularly climate change and abortion policy. That said, the most surprising number may be that she's now neck-and-neck with Trump on crime. That may be without precedent for a Democrat in the past half-century.
Again, it's only one poll. But if it's on target, well, Trump has internal polling that would be telling him the same thing. And if he believes he is losing on the issues, then his general response would be to: (1) get more extreme and/or (2) to lean into personal attacks. And these things are exactly what he's been doing since the debate. (Z)