Voters are now more likely to credit Vice President Kamala Harris than former President Donald Trump with representing change and caring about people like them, as Harris takes a slim lead nationally in the race for the White House, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll.

The finding is the first time Harris has led Trump in the Times/Siena poll since July, when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and Democrats rallied behind Harris as his replacement. It comes as the contest moves into its final month, and surveys from the battleground states find the race to be one of the closest in modern history.

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Harris Is Making Gains

While the Times/Siena poll shows some solid advantages for Trump, the results suggest Harris is making gains, if small ones, on questions about temperament, trust and change that can be critical in a presidential race.

The poll, conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 6 among 3,385 likely voters, found that Harris led Trump, the Republican, 49% to 46%, a slight lead that is within the poll’s margin of error.

Trump and Harris were even, at 47% each, in a mid-September Times/Siena poll, after the two candidates met in their first — and probably only — presidential debate.

Harris has since shored up her support among older voters and has begun making inroads among Republicans: 9% said they planned to support her, up slightly from 5% last month. She also appears to have closed the gap on the question of change, a critical factor in an election where voters have repeatedly told pollsters they believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction.

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Trump, 78, who was voted out of the White House in 2020, has presented himself as an agent of change, and has regularly tried to saddle Harris with unpopular parts of Biden’s record. But the Times/Siena poll found voters said Harris, 59, was the candidate representing change in this election, 46% to 44%. The finding was a first for Harris; in previous Times/Siena polls, Trump has been identified as the candidate of change.

Trump held onto the polling edge as which candidate was viewed as the stronger leader, albeit by a narrow margin, which could prove crucial with the Middle East in turmoil. But Harris was, by a wide margin, seen as more honest and trustworthy than Trump.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Adam Nagourney, Ruth Igielnik and Camille Baker
c. 2024 The New York Times Company