National UMass Poll Finds Harris Leading Trump, Wide Opposition to Policies of ‘Project 2025’

Vice President Kamala Harris opening a three-point lead over former President Donald Trump in the presidential election was just one of many findings of a recent national UMass Amherst Poll that were announced over several days the week of Aug. 5.<_o3a_p>

Harris' 46-43 lead over Trump in the new poll, conducted July 29-Aug. 1, represents a seven-point swing from a January UMass Poll that found Trump with a 43-39 lead over President Joe Biden.<_o3a_p>

The poll also found that Biden has had a four-point positive swing since the last UMass Poll, moving from a 39-57 approval-disapproval rating in January to 41-55. Harris' approval currently stands at 46-47 and, while not surveyed in January's poll, her current rating marks an 11-point swing since a June 2023 UMass Poll had her approval pegged at 39-51. There was also widespread commendation of Biden's decision to pass the baton for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination to Harris, with 81% of respondents saying that stepping aside was the correct choice for Biden to make.<_o3a_p>

In further findings of the poll, more than half (53%) of Americans - and two-thirds of Democrats - indicated that they had read, seen or heard at least something about "Project 2025" - and they don't particularly care for it.<_o3a_p>

"Project 2025 looks like an electoral liability, so it is no surprise that the Democratic Party has sought to link it with former President Trump and the GOP and why Trump seeks to move away from any and all association with the unpopular 900-page playbook," says Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll. "Large majorities of Americans oppose the key pillars of Project 2025, such as the replacement of career government officials with political appointees (68% opposed), restricting a woman's right to contraception (72% opposed) and eliminating the Department of Education (64% opposed). While our politics are usually divided by class, generational, racial, gender and partisan identities, among these groups we find strong opposition to many of the policies associated with Project 2025. Even former Trump voters exhibit opposition to many of these policies, a bad omen for the Republican Party and Trump campaign."<_o3a_p>

Links to the reports about the findings of the new poll, including its toplines and crosstabs, can be found below.<_o3a_p>