Donald Trump Gets Worrying Sign From New Poll

A new poll measuring voter enthusiasm has delivered what could be a worrying sign to former President Donald Trump on Thursday.
The former president previously held nationwide polling leads over President Joe Biden for months before his exit from the race. After Biden exited the race following a highly criticized debate performance, Vice President Kamala Harris took the reins for the Democrats and has consistently gained in the polls as her candidacy has generated new enthusiasm among Democrats.
A new Gallup survey out on Thursday indicated that Trump has lost a key advantage in the race in the past few months as Democratic enthusiasm to vote in November has surged since March, surpassing excitement among Republicans, according to the poll.
The survey found that 78 percent of Democrats said they are enthusiastic to vote for Harris in November, while only 64 percent of Republicans said they are enthusiastic to vote for Trump. Overall, 69 percent of Americans are enthusiastic about voting in the election, the poll found.
The number marks the most enthusiastic Democrats have been in a Gallup poll about an election since February 2008. That year, former President Barack Obama, then an Illinois Senator, won his first election in an Electoral College landslide, taking down even Republican-leaning states like Indiana and North Carolina.
The poll released Thursday was conducted from August 1 to August 20 among 1,015 adults. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
A Gallup poll earlier this year, conducted from March 1 to March 20, found Republicans with the enthusiasm advantage.
The poll found that 59 percent of Republicans were enthusiastic about voting, compared to only 55 percent of Democrats. Fifty-four percent of all Americans were enthusiastic about voting.
Gallup noted that turnout shifted from “average” to “the highest Gallup has measured during a presidential election campaign.”
Newsweek reached out to the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment via email.
As Democratic enthusiasm builds, polls have narrowed in recent months.
On March 1, Trump held a two-point lead in FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregate. On July 21, when Biden announced his exit from the race, Trump’s lead had grown to 3.2 points in the polling average. However, as of Thursday, Harris now held a 3.4-point lead in the aggregate.
A Suffolk University/USA Today poll, which surveyed 1,000 likely voters from August 25 to August 28, found Harris with more than a 4 point lead over Trump (47.6 percent to 43.3 percent). The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Meanwhile, an Emerson College poll released Thursday showed a tight race in key swing states.
The poll showed Trump with a 3-point lead in Arizona (50 percent to 47 percent), a 1-point lead in North Carolina (49 percent to 48 percent) and a 1-point lead in Wisconsin (49 percent to 48 percent). Harris held a 1-point lead in Georgia (49 percent to 48 percent), 3-point lead in Michigan (50 percent to 47 percent) and a 1-point lead in Nevada (49 percent to 48 percent).
Meanwhile, the poll showed each candidate receiving 48 percent in Pennsylvania.