NBC Poll: 75% of rural Americans support Trump
| Former President Trump, the Republican candidate for president, has a strong lead among rural voters, with 75% of rural Americans planning to vote for him, according to a poll recently released by NBC News. But overall, the poll found that Trump and Vice President Harris, the Democratic candidate, are deadlocked, with Trump bolstered by Republicans coming back home to support him after last month’s rough debate and subsequent polling deficit, as well as by a favorable voter assessment of Trump’s term as president. The poll also “shows Harris’ popularity declining compared to a month ago, after she got a big summertime boost; a massive gender gap between support for Harris and Trump; and voters viewing abortion as a top motivating issue heading into the 2024 vote,” NBC News said. “As summer has turned to fall, any signs of momentum for Kamala Harris have stopped,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. “The race is a dead heat.” McInturff said “headwinds” for Harris have helped narrow the presidential contest, including concerns that the vice president doesn’t represent change from President Biden and voters seeing Trump’s presidency in a more positive light than Biden’s. “She is asking for another term from the incumbent party,” McInturff said of Harris. Still, underlining the poll is uncertainty about the election, with 10% of voters saying they might change their minds and a sliver of unclaimed voters still on the fence. There also is an all-time-high share of voters believing that this presidential election will make “a great deal of difference” in their lives, and key challenges for both Harris and Trump.The poll also showed: |
| Harris leads with Black voters (84%-11%), younger voters ages 18 to 34 (57%-37%), and white voters with college degrees (55%-41%). Women support Harris by a 14-point margin (55%-41%) and men back Trump by 16-points (56%-40%). Independents support Harris (44%), Trump (40%) Both candidates are unpopular. Harris’ rating stands at 43% positive, 49% negative (—6) since September, with the erosion coming mainly from independents and young voters. Trump’s rating stands at 43% positive, 51% negative score (—8) in this same poll. That positive rating is Trump’s highest in the NBC News poll since he left office. |
| Harris could be helped by the intensity of viewpoints about abortion. The pollsters asked, “Is there one issue you feel so strongly about that you will vote for or against a candidate solely on that issue?” The answers: Abortion (22%), immigration/border security (19%), protecting democracy or constitutional rights (18%) and cost of living (16%). The NBC News poll was conducted Oct. 4-8 of 1,000 registered voters, 898 of whom were reached by cell phone, and it has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Other polls have shown that in the battleground states, Harris is ahead in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, while Trump is ahead in Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada |
