Do Americans trust Trump or Harris more to handle key issues? What a new poll found
Americans are largely divided over which candidate they trust more to handle key election issues, new polling reveals.
The latest Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll asked respondents whether they were more trusting of Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump on 12 issues.
Trump was more trusted on seven issues, including immigration and defense, while Harris was more trusted on five issues, including abortion and the environment.
The poll, conducted Aug. 7, sampled 3,000 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points.
Harris’ winning issues
On abortion, 51% of respondents said they trusted Harris more, while 33% said they trusted Trump more, giving Harris an 18-point lead — the largest found in the poll.
Harris has been one of the Democrats’ most outspoken advocates of abortion rights. Earlier this year, she launched a nationwide reproductive freedoms tour, which had stops in multiple battleground states.
Similarly, on the environment, 47% of respondents said they trusted Harris more, while 32% said they trusted Trump more, a 15-point difference.
Harris was also the most trusted candidate on election integrity, health care and the rule of law, outpacing Trump by 11, 11 and 7 percentage points, respectively.
Trump’s winning issues
On immigration, nearly half of respondents, 47%, said they trusted Trump more, while 38% said they trusted Harris more, marking a 9-point lead for Trump.
Trump has long made immigration one of his top issues, with his fight to curb illegal immigration dating back to his 2016 run for president.
On defense, 45% of respondents said they trusted Trump more, while 37% said they trusted Harris more, an 8-point difference.
And on the economy, 46% of respondents said they trusted the former president more. Forty-one percent said they trusted Harris more.
Trump was also slightly more trusted to handle the Israel-Hamas war, inflation, the war in Ukraine and policing/crime, though his lead on policing/crime was within the margin of error.
Most important issues
The most important issue for respondents, by far, was the economy, the poll found, with 38% saying it was most important to them.
Abortion and immigration were the second- and third-most cited issues, with 16% and 11% of respondents, respectively, saying it was most important.
Further, when respondents were asked how important 19 issues would be in deciding how they would vote, 70% said the cost of living would be extremely important — making it the most important issue.
Additionally, 58% of respondents said healthcare was extremely important in determining how they would vote.
These were followed by election integrity, illegal immigration and taxation, which were ranked as extremely important by 55%, 52% and 50% of respondents, respectively.
Student debt, “woke” policies and climate change came last in terms of their importance in determining how respondents’ would vote.
This story was originally published August 12, 2024 at 10:15 AM with the headline "Do Americans trust Trump or Harris more to handle key issues? What a new poll found."