Donald Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance dismissed “fake” polls when confronted about the former president’s flagging numbers.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Shannon Bream cited several polls, including the New York Times/Siena College poll, showing a surge in support for Harris and diminished support for Trump and questioned Vance on how the campaign plans to address these numbers.
“What is the campaign doing with that data?” Bream asked. “These are critical states. Are there any pivots? You talk about your message but is it not landing?”
Vance did not offer any insight into potential campaign changes but argued that polling “tend to radically overstate Democrats.” He also claim that Harris “got a bit of a sugar high a couple of weeks ago,” and that internal data shows she “has already leveled off.”
Bream noted however that “new numbers” does not support Vance’s claim that Harris is losing support citing the recent Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos survey that has Harris leading Trump in the national race by 4 percentage points.
“If you think the momentum is not swinging or your internal polls are suggesting differently, every other poll that has been released is showing great momentum in her direction,” Bream added.
Vance responded by claiming that there are other polls showing Harris “stagnating or leveling off” and dismissed the Washington Post/ABC News poll as “wildly inaccurate” in 2020.
“If you see the numbers that we’re seeing and you actually talk to the American people, I feel extremely confident that we’re going to be in the right place in November,” Vance said, again failing to cite a poll.
“Consistently what you’ve seen in 2016 and 2020 is that the media uses fake polls to drive down Republican turnout and to create dissension and conflict with Republican voters,” he added.
The Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos shows Harris leading Trump 49 percent to 45 percent among registered voters nationally.
The poll was conducted online between August 9 and 13 and has a margin of error of ±2 percentage points.
Similarly, the New York Times/Siena College poll released last week shows Harris putting the sun belt states back in play for Democrats.
In Arizona, Harris leads Trump 50% to 45% and in North Carolina—a state Trump won twice— 49% to 47%. Harris also tightened the gap in Georgia and Nevada where Trump still leads 50%-46% and 48% to 47% respectively.
The New York Times/Siena College poll was conducted among 2,670 registered voters from Aug. 8 to 15, 2024. It has a margin of error of 4.4% for Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada and 4.2% for North Carolina.
