Has Kamala Harris energized Black voters for Election Day? What a new poll found

Since Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race for the White House, the share of Black Americans who say they plan on voting has surged, according to a new poll.

In the latest CBS News poll, 74% of Black registered voters said they will definitely vote in the upcoming presidential election.

The poll, conducted between July 30 and Aug. 2, sampled 3,102 voters nationwide and has a margin of error of 2.1 percentage points.

It comes after President Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsing Harris on July 21.

In an earlier CBS News poll — taken days before Biden stepped aside — 58% of Black registered voters said they definitely planned to vote, marking a 16-point difference in less than one month.

That poll was conducted between July 16 and 18 and sampled 2,247 voters around the country. It had a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points.

Additionally, the new poll found that, since Harris threw her hat in the ring, the share of Black voters who say they are thinking about the race “a lot” has ticked up.

A majority, 51%, said they are thinking about the election a lot, compared with 37% who said the same in the earlier poll, marking a 14-point difference. As a comparison, the share of white voters who said they are thinking about the race a lot increased by only 1 point.

The latest poll also found Black “leaner” voters — meaning those who lean Democratic or Republican — now back Harris at a higher rate than those who backed Biden.

Eighty-one percent of Black leaners said they would vote for Harris if the election were held today, while 18% said they would back former President Donald Trump.

In the earlier poll, 73% of Black leaners said they would vote for Biden, while 24% said they would vote for Trump, marking an eight-point increase for Harris.

Other recent surveys have also found Harris making up ground among Black Americans.

In a July 31 AP-NORC poll, 73% of Black adults said they were somewhat or very satisfied with Harris being the Democratic nominee, according to WVMT. Meanwhile, in a July 17 AP-NORC poll, 51% of Black adults said they were satisfied with Biden as the nominee.

This story was originally published August 5, 2024 at 2:33 PM with the headline "Has Kamala Harris energized Black voters for Election Day? What a new poll found."