Harris 'narrows the gap' with Trump on economy in key battleground states: poll

27 Sep 2024, 16:02 by https://www.facebook.com/17108852506 · AlterNet

Vice President Kamala Harris on March 15, 2024 (Creative Commons)
Alex Henderson
September 27, 2024Economy

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the United States had an unemployment rate of 4.2 percent in August — the latest example of the U.S. enjoying low unemployment under President Joe Biden.

That figure is for the U.S. on the whole; some states had lower unemployment than that over the summer. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, for example, reported 3.4 percent unemployment for the Keystone State in August.

Yet inflation has been a major source of frustration for millions of Americans, and many polls have found that respondents trust Trump on the economy more than they trust Vice President Kamala Harris — who has been attacking Trump relentlessly on the economy in recent campaign speeches.

Harris' messaging, according to Bloomberg News, may be working.

Julia Press and Sarah Holder of Bloomberg News report that a late August Bloomberg polls "shows Vice President Kamala Harris closing that gap" on the economy "in key states."

Holder discussed the poll's findings with her colleague Wendy Benjaminson, explaining, "When it comes to who these likely voters trust to steer the US economy…. Harris is catching up."

Bloomberg News and Morning Consult, Benjaminson noted, have been polling seven swing states consistently on the presidential race and the U.S. economy. And Benjaminson told Holder, "Harris has narrowed the gap with Trump on who do you trust to handle the economy. He is still ahead on that question, but in August, he was ahead by six points. In September, he is ahead by only four points. She has also increased her lead on who is better suited to help the middle class and her economic policy positions are more popular than Biden's."

Read Bloomberg News' full article at this link (subscription required).