NYT poll calls Kamala vs Trump race tighter than before, expect a 268-270 result

The report suggests that such a staggering result would only be possible should the Times/Siena polls in every state prove to be accurate

With the 2024 presidential election less than six weeks away, the stakes are high for contenders Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. A new report by the New York Times suggests that there is a possibility of a 270-268 result, with the Democratic nominee having a slight lead over the former president. On Saturday, the outlet concluded its New York Times/Siena College post-debate polls in the battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. August 20, 2024 and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey, U.S., August 15, 2024 are seen in a combination of file photographs. REUTERS/Marco Bello, Jeenah Moon/File Photo (REUTERS)

NYT polls show Harris taking slight lead over Trump

The report suggests that such a staggering result would only be possible should the Times/Siena polls in every state prove to be accurate. In Saturday's poll, the vice president secured a one percentage point lead in Michigan, two in Wisconsin, and nine in Nebraska’s Second Congressional District. Meanwhile, the GOP presidential candidate led in Ohio (a state he won by eight points in 2020) by six points among likely voters. Based on the average of the outlet's last six polls in core battleground states, excluding Nevada, Trump had a lead over Harris with “just 0.6 of a point.”

2024 election set to be the closest-ever in US history

Following Joe Biden's exit from the race, stakes grew even higher for Republicans as voters regained faith in the Democratic Party with Harris' entry. The majority of the polls so far have indicated that the November election will be the closest ever in American history. The outcome of the swing states will determine the 47th US President, according to Andrew Wroe, a professor in American politics at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. “What they see is that swing-state polls show that race is much tighter than the national polls indicate,” Wroe told Newsweek earlier this week.