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Gallup Poll: Trump's Favorability Jumps as Harris's Declines, Signaling End of Veep's 'Honeymoon' Phase

Kamala Harris (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images), Donald Trump (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
September 18, 2024

Former president Donald Trump’s overall favorability has risen by 5 percentage points since last month, while Vice President Kamala Harris’s ratings dropped by 3 percentage points, signaling her honeymoon phase may be fading, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.

The poll, conducted in September before Sunday’s assassination attempt on Trump, shows that 46 percent of voters have a favorable view of the Republican nominee, up from 41 percent last month. Harris sits at 44 percent, down from 47 percent in August when she formally accepted her party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention.

While the majority of Independent voters view both Trump and Harris unfavorably, 44 percent have a favorable opinion of the former president, compared to only 35 percent saying the same about the vice president.

The latest figures suggest that Harris’s initial gains following her sudden rise to the top of the Democratic ticket in late July—what some critics have dubbed her "honeymoon phase"—may be over.

Harris’s job performance rating also dropped from 47 percent last month to 44 percent, according to the Gallup poll.

Vice presidential nominees Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R.) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D.) remain relatively unknown, with about one in five Americans not having an opinion of either candidate.

The Wednesday results come after a New York Times poll last week showed Trump with a slim lead over Harris nationally. "Mr. Trump may have had a rough month following the president’s departure and amid the burst of excitement that Ms. Harris brought Democrats, but the poll suggests his support remains remarkably resilient," the Times reported.

Trump is now viewed more favorably than he was at a similar point during his 2020 and 2016 campaigns, while Harris’s favorability rating matches Biden’s in 2020.