RALEIGH, N.C. — Donald Trump is now trailing behind Kamala Harris in North Carolina and several other key swing states in the race for president, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
It's the first major poll of this election cycle that shows the Republican former president trailing his Democratic challenger in North Carolina. It was released the same day Trump gave a speech in Asheville, and just days after his campaign bought its first television ads in North Carolina — signs that the Trump campaign now sees North Carolina as being in play.
Trump was routinely favored over President Joe Biden in polls before Biden dropped out of the race on July 21. Multiple polls this spring and summer showed Trump up by nearly double digits over Biden in North Carolina. That was a stark contrast to 2020, when Trump won the state by just 1.5% of the vote.
But the Cook Political Report poll on Wednesday found Harris leading Trump by 2 percentage points — a 10-point swing in favor of Democrats from May, when its poll that month found Trump leading Biden by 8 points.
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