Former President Donald Trump received bad polling news on Friday from Republican consultant Karl Rove as he said that Vice President Kamala Harris could get the “momentum” to “leave her in the lead” of this year’s presidential election at the end of the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
Trump became the Republican presidential nominee last month at the Republican National Convention (RNC) as he was expected to face off between President Joe Biden. However, since Biden stepped down from the race on July 21 and endorsed Harris, the former president faces new challenges.
In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Rove, who served as President George W. Bush‘s senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, spoke about the polling numbers between Trump and Harris as he pointed out that before the first debate between Biden and Trump, the former president had a 3-point lead. However on Friday, that lead had decreased to 0.8 points against Harris.
“Trump today in the RealClearPolitics average is leading by 1.2 percent, 1.2 points. There’s an outlier in their polling, gives him a five-point lead. Without that outlier, he’s leading by less than 1 percent, 0.8 points. In fact, if you look at it, there were five polls in the RealClearPolitics average that occurred before the 25th of July,” Rove said.
He continued: “Trump leads in all five of those. Of the other five polls that have been held since the 26th of July he leads in only two. She leads in three. So I fully expect that the momentum she has is going to carry her through, unless it’s a disastrous vice presidential choice. This momentum is going to leave her in the lead at the end of the Democratic convention.”
The DNC takes place in Chicago starting on August 19.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s and Harris’ campaign via email for comment.
Since Harris launched her campaign, polls have been largely positive for the Democrat. They show that she has narrowed the gap on Trump compared to when Biden was on the ticket. Polls have also shown the vice president leading in multiple swing states that could play a pivotal role in deciding the election in November.
More recently, Harris is shown leading Trump, in eight national polls. The new polls show the presumptive Democratic nominee is leading the former president by between 1 and 4 points.
RMG Research is the latest pollster to find Harris leading Trump in the national popular vote. The firm released a survey on Friday showing her with a 5-point lead (47 to 42 percent) over the former president. The poll was conducted among 3,000 registered voters from July 29 to 31.
A poll conducted by Civiqs between July 27 and 30 also showed Harris with a 5-point lead over Trump. Among 1,123 registered voters, Harris leads him 49 to 45 percent. Her lead is outside the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
However, a number of other polls show Trump is still the current favorite to win in November.
Aggregate polls from The New York Times, The Hill, and RealClearPolitics show Trump leading Harris by between 1 and 2 points. However, they also show Trump leading Harris at a smaller margin than his lead over Biden prior to the president’s exit from the race.
This comes as Harris is expected to decide who will be her running mate in the coming days. Trump, meanwhile, is expected to hold campaign rallies in Atlanta on August 3 and in Bozeman, Montana, on August 9.
