Two recent polls show Vice President Kamala Harris beating Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2024 matchup.
On Friday, an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll of 1,174 registered voters suggests Harris, considered the best-placed person to replace President Joe Biden as the Democrat's 2024 nominee should he drop out of the race, would narrowly beat Trump in November's election (50 percent to 49).
The poll was released one day after an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll of 2,431 adults found that Harris would beat Trump by three points overall (49 percent to 46) and among registered voters (49 percent to 47).
Newsweek reached out to Harris' office via email for comment.
Biden has faced growing pressure, including from his own party, to end his reelection bid after his poor performance at the June 27 CNN debate.
Both surveys were conducted before Biden caused concern after he mistakenly referred to Harris as "Vice President Trump" during his high-stakes NATO press conference on Thursday evening. Just hours before, Biden also misspoke when he introduced Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as "President Putin" before correcting himself.
Harris said she is still supporting Biden in the White House race and has given no indication that she wishes to replace him as the Democratic nominee for 2024.
The NPR/PBS News/Marist survey suggests if Biden decides to drop out of the presidential contest, neither Harris nor any other potential candidates would improve the Democrats' chances against Trump.
The poll shows Biden beating Trump by two points (50 percent to 48) in the two-way presidential matchup. In a previous NPR/PBS News/Marist survey conducted before the CNN debate, Biden and Trump were tied at 49 percent.
In addition to Harris' one-point lead over Trump, California Governor Gavin Newsom beat Trump by two points (50 percent to 48), while Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer tied with the Republican on 49 percent.
Reacting to the poll results, Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said: "Despite a series of cataclysmic political events, including Trump's felony convictions and Biden's abysmal debate performance, the race for the White House remains essentially unchanged.
"But Biden needs to restore confidence among his party faithful that he can win. And Trump needs to tread very lightly during the Republican convention about Project 2025 and avoid positioning the GOP as too extreme."
Elsewhere, the ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll showed that Harris would perform better than Trump in a hypothetical 2024 election among women (52 percent to 44) and Hispanics (56 percent to 40).
Harris also enjoys 82 percent support among Black people and 86 percent among Black women, but these are not significantly different from Biden's results for these demographics.
During his press conference at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Biden reiterated he has no intention of exiting the 2024 race.
"I'm not handing off to another generation; I've got to finish this job," Biden said. "I've got to finish this job because there's so much at stake."
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Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
