Americans rate Kamala Harris more honest and disciplined than Donald Trump, AP-NORC poll finds

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris has a noticeable advantage over the former president Donald Trump Trump has low confidence in his leadership qualities, such as honesty, although Americans have slightly more confidence in his views on the economy and immigration, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Nearly half of Americans say “committed to democracy” and “disciplined” are traits that better describe Harris. About 3 in 10 say those traits better describe Trump.

About 4 in 10 people say Harris is someone who “cares about people like you,” while about 3 in 10 say the same is true of Trump. About 4 in 10 people say “honest” better describes Harris, while 24% say quality better describes Trump.

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Both parties are racing to define Harris as prepares to accept the Democratic nomination convention next week. Polls suggest he’s carrying some of the same baggage that weighed on President Joe Biden before he ended his reelection campaign, but he has an edge over Trump when the two are compared. And Democrats still be much happier about her candidacy than about Biden.

Trump spent the campaign promoting himself as a sturdy leader who could handle the tough crises facing the country and suggesting that foreign leaders would not respect Harris in the White House. But he has no advantage over Americans in that regard, according to the survey. Four in 10 U.S. adults say Trump is a sturdy leader, and about the same number say the same about Harris. About four in 10 say Trump is capable of handling the crisis, and a similar share say Harris is in a better position to do so.

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Americans are about evenly split between who they think has a better chance of winning in November — Trump and Harris. In July, before Biden dropped out of the race, only about 2 in 10 Americans he thought he had a better chance of winningwhile about twice as many people thought the same about Trump.

“Trump had a better chance when Joe Biden was running,” said Lisa Miller, a 42-year-old college student from Elko, Nevada, and a Republican. “I think a lot of people who were unsure about Joe Biden feel more confident now that Kamala Harris is older and has more cognitive abilities.”

Trump has the upper hand on the economy and immigration

Americans are more likely to trust Trump than Harris on his handling of the economy or immigration, but the difference is compact — 45% say Trump is better equipped to handle the economy, while 38% say the same about Harris. There is a similar gap on handling immigration. Independents are about twice as likely to trust Trump as Harris on the economy, and they give him an edge on immigration as well.

Howard Barnes, a 36-year-old artist from San Francisco, is a Republican who says he trusts Trump more than Harris on the border issue.

“She doesn’t seem to have any initiative or interest in it,” Barnes said.

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Harris has a wider lead over Trump on handling issues related to race and racial inequality, abortion policy and health care. About half of U.S. adults say Harris would do a better job than Trump on each of those issues, compared with about 3 in 10 for Trump. Harris is especially sturdy among Democrats, independents and women on abortion policy.

Democrats and independents give her an edge on health care, as well as on issues of race and racial inequality. About two-thirds of black adults say Harris is the candidate they trust more on those issues, as do about half of Latino adults and white adults.

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Harris’ strengths also underscore two areas where Republicans give Trump relatively low marks: abortion policy and issues related to race and racial inequality. Only about 6 in 10 Republicans trust Trump more than Harris on those issues.

But there are possible signs of trouble for Harris in the poll. Only about 6 in 10 Democrats trust her more than Trump to handle the war in Gaza better, her lowest rating in the party on the issues asked. About a quarter of Democrats say they don’t trust either Trump or Harris on the issue.

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Democrats are more excited about the election now

About two-thirds of Democrats say “excited” very well or extremely well describes how they feel about electing Harris.

This enthusiasm marks a acute turnaround from when Biden was the Democratic nominee: AP-NORC poll from March found that only 4 in 10 Democrats said “excited” would describe their feelings extremely or very well if he wins another term. About 7 in 10 Democrats said “pleased” would describe their feelings at least very well if Harris wins. That also change from Marchwhen half of Democrats said that about Biden.

“There’s definitely joy and there’s definitely hope, and I feel like that’s something that’s been missing,” said Meaghan Dunfee, a 33-year-old public-sector worker in Hamilton, N.J. “I don’t think we’ve had that on the Democratic side in a long time.”

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About 2 in 10 independents say they would be excited or pleased with Harris’ pick, up from the response when asked about Biden in March. About half of independents say excitement describes their emotions at least “somewhat,” up from about a quarter in March. Similar shares of independents say they would be excited or pleased with Trump’s pick.

The poll of 1,164 adults was conducted Aug. 8-12, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.