Kamala Harris’ polls surge stalls ahead of Democratic National Convention

Julia Nikhinson/AP by Adrian Beaumont, The University of Melbourne The US presidential election will be held on November 5. In analyst Nate Silver’s aggregate of national polls, Democrat Kamala Harris leads Republican Donald Trump by 47.1–44.6% with 4.2% for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In my previous US politics article last Wednesday, Harris led Trump by 46.8–43.7%. Joe Biden’s final position before his withdrawal as Democratic candidate on July 21 was a national poll deficit against Trump of 45.2–41.2%. By the election, Biden will be almost 82, Trump will be 78 and Harris will be 60. The US president isn’t elected by the national popular vote, but by the Electoral College, in which each state receives electoral votes equal to its federal House seats (population based) and senators (always two). Almost all states award their electoral votes as winner takes all, and it takes 270 electoral votes to win (out of 538 total). In the states narrowly won by Biden in 2020, Harris leads Trump by three points in Michigan, 3.4 points in Wisconsin, 1.5 points in Pennsylvania and 2.1 points in Arizona. Georgia and Nevada are the only Biden-won state that have Trump ahead, by 1.4 points in Georgia and...