Trump could be in big trouble as new poll reveals his major weaknesses

Donald Trump may have been dominant in the polling when he was running against Joe Biden, but the President’s withdrawal from the 2024 election race and the rise of Kamala Harris has started to shift momentum away from the former president. 

On August 6th, Martin Pengelly of The Guardian compiled several of the most recent national head-to-head polls, which showed that Harris was beating Trump by one to four percentage points. This is an awkward turn of events for Trump. 

As embarrassing as the widening gap must be for the former president, one of the most recent polls attempting to decipher how voters feel about this new race uncovered a few worriesome findings regarding how people view Trump with Biden now out of the race. 

The Morning Consult published the results of polling conducted at the end of July 2024 that found voters were more likely to describe Kamala Harris as a healthy, mentally fit, and stronger leader compared to Trump—and the numbers were bad. 

According to the polling, 71% of voters polled agreed that Vice President Harris was “in good health” compared to the 52% who said the same for Joe Biden. The New Republic noted this figure was 6% lower than when Trump was matched up against Biden. 

Voters not only viewed Vice President Harris as the healthier presidential candidate but also as the person in the race who was more mentally fit, something that must come as a big disappointment for Trump since his new nickname for Harris is ‘Crazy Kamala’.

About 64% of survey respondents believed Kamala Harris was mentally fit compared to just 48% who said the same about Trump. This figure was a 5 percent drop against the numbers Trump received when facing off against Biden, The New Republic noted.  

Where things really got interesting with The Morning Consult's polling results were in the percentages of respondents who thought Trump was too old to be president compared to Harris. This was an issue Trump dominated when running against Biden. 

The Morning Consult found that 70% of those surveyed thought Biden was too old for the job of the president while half of those polled said the same of Trump. Only 12% of voters thought Kamala Harris was too old to be president. She is currently 59 years old. 

“Nicknaming President Joe Biden 'Sleepy Joe' doesn’t seem to be looking so good for Donald Trump now that he’s the old man in the race,” The New Republic’s Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling wrote about Trump in her analysis of The Morning Consult’s polling. 

Harris was also seen as a stronger leader than Trump by a 48% to 38% margin, though what really should shock the country about The Morning Consult’s polling findings were the discoveries it made regarding what concerns voters the most about Trump.

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling noted voters “said they were more concerned about Trump’s erratic behavior worsening with age should he retake the White House in November.”

The New Republic reporter added that 82% of voters surveyed by The Morning Consult said Trump’s “poor decision-making” and “erratic behavior” were a major concern. But that wasn’t the only problem uncovered by the new polling. 

Respondents also listed the possibility of illness (49%) and death (44%) as two major concerns if Trump were to retake the White House. 

Eli Yokey of The Morning Consult explained in a breakdown of the polling that Harris has widened the trust Biden held on key issues like “abortion… climate change, education, health care and protecting American democracy.”

Yokey also noted “Trump’s advantage over Harris on gun policy, crime, the economy and foreign policy are smaller than they were for Biden,” which is a finding that should be very concerning for the former president and his campaign team. 

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