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Harris-Trump showdown: Top political handicapper shifts ratings in key states

Harris-Trump showdown: Top political handicapper shifts ratings in key states

A top non-partisan political handicapper is shifting three key states toward Vice President Kamala Harris in her 2024 election showdown with former President Donald Trump. The Cook Political Report is moving North Carolina from leans Republican to toss up. The Tar Heel State is one of seven battlegrounds across the country that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election. Former President Barack Obama was the last Democrat to carry the state in the race for the White House, in the 2008 election.  Four years ago, Trump narrowly edged President Biden in the state. However, following Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June, the former president saw his lead in North Carolina grow to the mid single digits. WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: WHY JD VANCE IS CONCENTRATING ON THESE 3 STATES After Biden ended his 2024 re-election bid on July 21, and Harris replaced her boss at the top of the Democrats’ national ticket, the race in North Carolina tightened to a margin-of-error contest. “Trump hasn’t lost political ground since July; instead it’s that Harris has improved on Biden’s vote share by seven points,” Cook Political Report publisher and editor-in-chief Amy Walter wrote in explaining her ratings shift. 2024 COUNTDOWN: TRUMP CRISSCROSSING CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY “In other words, the race is tightening, not because Harris is cutting into Trump’s vote, but because Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are coming home,” Walter added. Trump, determined not to let North Carolina slip from his column, has campaigned in the state three times since Biden dropped out of the race five and a half weeks ago.  Additionally, the Trump campaign outspent the Harris campaign by $8.3 million to run ads in North Carolina since the president dropped out of the 2024 race, according to the national ad tracking firm AdImpact. However, the Harris campaign currently has $30 million in ad reservations in the state, compared to just $7.3 million for the Trump campaign. GOP GOVERNOR SAYS TRUMP NEEDS TO CARRY HIS STATE TO WIN WHITE HOUSE The Cook Political Report now joins another leading non-partisan political handicapper, Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, in classifying North Carolina as a toss up. Walter also made a shift in two competitive presidential election states that the Democrats have reliably won for decades, moving Minnesota and New Hampshire from lean Democrat to likely Democrat. In the weeks after the Biden-Trump debate, polls indicated Trump making gains in Minnesota – where the GOP has not carried the state in a presidential election in over a half century, and New Hampshire, which the Democrats have carried in five straight White House contests. However, Walter said that “Harris has been able to reconstitute and energize the Democratic coalition…taking states like Minnesota and New Hampshire out of reach for the Trump campaign.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Trump risks losing some pro-life voters unless he changes ‘his tune’ on abortion, activist warns

Trump risks losing some pro-life voters unless he changes ‘his tune’ on abortion, activist warns

FIRST ON FOX: Former President Trump’s shifting stance on some of his abortion policies to attract independents and some disillusioned Democrats could alienate those who helped get him elected in 2016 – his pro-life base. But his growing support from middle-of-the-road voters could make up for it. “No one owns the pro-life vote,” leading pro-life organization Live Action founder Lila Rose told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday. “It has to be earned.” Rose stirred controversy on X, formerly Twitter, Monday by reposting a clip from Sen. JD Vance’s recent “Meet the Press” interview, where he pledged that a Trump-Vance administration would likely veto a federal abortion ban. “If you don’t stand for pro-life principles, you don’t get pro-life votes,” Rose said in the post. JD VANCE VOWS TRUMP WOULD NOT IMPOSE FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, VETO IT IF IT COMES ACROSS HIS DESK When asked about the post, Rose said that as of now, Trump doesn’t have her vote – and he could be at risk of alienating others in the pro-life movement. She said she hopes she will be able to vote for him come November. “We’re over two months out of this election, and Trump has changed his position in the past, as everyone knows, and I think that he’s changing it now to support abortion,” Rose said. “Thankfully, the election is not today, and he has two months to change his tune.” “I hope that Trump changes course,” Rose said. “I think it’s politically foolish and morally wrong what he’s doing. I think he’s not winning any pro-abortion people to his side. Kamala Harris spent an entire week at the DNC cheerleading for the abortion industry to shore up her base, and then President Trump comes out and throws his base under the bus and tries to cheerlead for Kamala’s base.” REP. MAXINE WATERS DODGES QUESTION ON CONTROVERSIAL ABORTION PROCEDURE This election cycle, Trump has countered Democratic attacks by stating he would leave abortion access to the states, as determined by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and opposes a federal abortion ban. The Republican Party also abandoned its long-standing position of advocating for abortion limits in July. However, Trump has remained opposed to late-term abortions. “President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion and has been very clear that he will NOT sign a federal ban when he is back in the White House,” Trump-Vance campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital in a statement. “President Trump also supports universal access to contraception and IVF. Contrarily, Kamala Harris and the Democrats are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion up until birth and forcing taxpayers to fund it.” NEWSOM DODGES QUESTION ON HARRIS PRICE CONTROLS: ‘SHE HASN’T PUT OUT THE DETAILS’ But Rose says the opposition to not supporting a federal ban is precisely the problem, because “the whole point of the pro-life movement politically, is to restrict abortion to save human lives.” “Increasingly, his platform and his rhetoric is pro-abortion and that should disturb and concern the pro-life movement as it is,” she said. To earn her vote, she said, Trump would need to champion pro-life laws and oppose Amendment Four – the right to abortion initiative – in Florida. On Friday, Trump also upset anti-abortion activists when he posted on his Truth Social platform, “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” He has also indicated he would not restrict access to abortion prescriptions.  Meanwhile, Trump continues to make gains with independents and former Democrats. On Sunday, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Trump, and a day later, former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard also endorsed the former president. Both politicians are now signed on to Trump’s “transition team,” according to the campaign. 

Harris gains on Trump on economy and crime, poll finds

Harris gains on Trump on economy and crime, poll finds

Former President Donald Trump’s edge over Vice President Kamala Harris on the topics of crime and economic policy is slipping, according to a new poll.  The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, released on Tuesday, shows Trump now maintains a slim 3% lead against Harris on employment and economic issues — 43% against Harris’s 40%.  In late July, Trump was leading Harris on economic issues by 11 points in the same poll. 2024 COUNTDOWN: HARRIS HAS POST-DNC MOMENTUM BUT TRUMP IS BURNING UP CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS LEFT The gap is closing between the candidates on other key issues as well. Trump and Harris are now tied at 40% on the issue of tackling crime and corruption.  Last month, Trump led Harris by 5 percentage points on the issue.  The margin of error for the August poll is +/- 4%, meaning even Trump’s economic policy advantage is too close to be considered a solid lead. CURRENT POLLS ACTUALLY SHOULD GIVE HARRIS BACKERS REASON TO WORRY ABOUT HER CHANCES: DEM STRATEGIST Political operatives and pollsters are working desperately to build a reliable model of U.S. voters heading into the November presidential election, but accuracy remains a concern following 2016 and 2020. Democratic pollsters also fear the prospect of another polling error, even though several of the party’s top firms got together in an attempt to diagnose the problem after the two past elections. “Every year, we’ve had different curveballs. This is a difficult industry,” John Anzalone, the lead pollster on Biden’s 2020 campaign, told Politico. “Something’s gonna happen in 2024. You and I, right now, don’t know what that is.” While Trump won in 2016 and failed to win re-election in 2020, the former president greatly outperformed his polling numbers in two close elections — a fact that is not lost on Democrats heading into the last stretch of 2024. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted between Aug. 23 and Aug. 25. The group surveyed 1,028 adults, 902 of whom were registered voters. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4%.