Swing state? Kamala Harris closes gap with Donald Trump in new polling

Image via AP.

The latest poll of the presidential race is the best yet for Democrats in Florida.

The survey from Florida Atlantic University’s PolCom Lab shows Democrat Kamala Harris within 3 points of Republican Donald Trump, in the latest sign that Florida may be in play despite Republicans holding an advantage of 1 million registered voters.

Though the race is close, at 50% for Trump and 47% for Harris, each candidate has their base of support.

Trump leads with men, 56% to 39%. He also is the choice of 53% of voters who are at least 50 years old.

Harris has 50% support with voters under 50 years of age, and is up 60 points with Black voters (77% to 17% for Trump).

Meanwhile, Hispanic voters are split at 49% each, suggesting both campaigns have an opportunity with that important and diverse electoral cohort.

Pollsters frame the narrowing of the race as a sign of Democrats rebuilding a historically successful coalition.

“Kamala Harris restores the traditional base of the Democratic Party, which includes women, minorities, younger voters, and Democratic Party identifiers,” said Dukhong Kim, associate professor of political science at FAU. “While Donald Trump maintains his own established base.”

This is just the latest poll of Florida to come out this week, and it represents a much closer race than a business group’s survey released Monday.

The Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) poll found that 52% of respondents said they will vote for Trump to carry Florida for a third time in eight years. Harris has 44% support, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sits at 3% in a three-way race.

In a two-way contest, Trump leads 53% to 46% against Harris in the AIF survey.

Meanwhile, another public poll released recently splits the difference between the two polls.

The USA Today/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV phone poll of 500 likely voters conducted between Aug. 7 and Aug. 11 shows Trump ahead of Harris, 47% to 42%, with 5% backing Kennedy and 5% undecided.