If Trump thought Biden stepping aside would help him in Pennsylvania, he was wrong as Kamala Harris has tied the ex-president in the Keystone State and Gov. Josh Shapiro is wildly popular.

Via: Fox News:

The state of the race is similar to where it was in April, when Biden and Trump were tied 48-48%. The survey, released Friday, shows Harris and Trump locked in a tie at 49-49% — barely different from what the final election results were in 2020 (49.85% Biden vs. 48.69% Trump).

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The expanded ballot shows Harris with a 2-point edge: 45% Harris, 43% Trump, 7% Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein and Cornel West with 1% each. Third parties hurt Trump here as 10% of his two-way supporters go for someone else compared to 7% of Harris’ supporters.

Voters are split on Harris’ favorable rating: 49-49%. Still, views of her are better than Biden (41% favorable, 57% unfavorable) or Trump (46-53%).

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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is widely considered to be on Harris’ shortlist of potential running mates, receives a 61% favorable rating — the highest of any individual tested. His rating has improved by 10 points since July 2022 when he was campaigning for governor.

Shapiro also beats Trump in a head-to-head matchup 54%-44%, and among voters who don’t like either candidate, Kamala Harris leads by 41 points, which is 14 points better than Joe Biden’s performance with this group in Pennsylvania.

There has been a lot of speculation about who Harris should pick as her running mate to balance the ticket. The reality is that picking Mark Kelly, Roy Cooper, or anyone else won’t hand Harris an Electoral College vote rich swing state like picking Josh Shapiro would.

The Trump campaign is worried that Harris will pick Shapiro and shut them out of Pennsylvania. If Pennsylvania is off the table for Trump, the ex-president would have to virtually run the table with the other swing states to win the White House. The Harris team is reportedly done with background checks and has moved into the political vetting part of the process.

The Fox News poll reveals that Donald Trump was not helped in Pennsylvania by Biden leaving the race, and he could lose the state if Kamala Harris adds Gov. Josh Shapiro to the ticket.

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Even the conservative Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal released a poll showing that Donald Trump’s lead is gone.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

The presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is essentially tied, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll that shows heightened support for her among nonwhite voters and dramatically increased enthusiasm about the campaign among Democrats.

The former president leads the current vice president 49% to 47% in a two-person matchup, but that is within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Trump held a six-point lead earlier this month over President Biden, before he exited the race and backed Harris.

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On a ballot test that included Robert F. Kennedy Jr.and other independent and third-party candidates, Harris receives 45% and Trump gets 44%. Kennedy is backed by just 4% and 5% remain undecided. Biden trailed in the multicandidate contest by six points in the last poll.

Trump has to hope that Harris’ momentum stops at its current point, or else he could see his hopes of returning to the White House swept away. Harris hasn’t chosen her running mate yet, which could result in another bounce, depending on who she chooses. The Vice President hasn’t had her convention yet, which will provide her with the biggest audience to this point of the campaign.

The ex-president is trying to back out of debating Harris, but that stance could change if she takes the lead in the polls. Trump has not had any momentum during the 2024 campaign. His lead came from Democrats abandoning Biden after the current president’s debate performance. Kamala Harris is bringing those Democrats back home, and there is more room for her support to grow, which can’t be said for Trump.

Forget what you thought you knew a week ago. This is a whole new election, and Kamala Harris has the energy and enthusiasm to potentially defeat Trump.

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The Harris campaign responded to Trump trying to back out of debating the presumptive Democratic nominee by saying that the ex-president is hiding at Mar-a-Lago.

The Harris campaign issued a response to Trump’s refusal to agree to participate in a debate with Harris until after she is officially the nominee:

“I am calling for Debates, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!”

That was Donald Trump as recently as May 6.

After calling for debates for months, Trump agreed to two debates a few days later. The next is scheduled for September 10th, on ABC News, in New York City.

But now, Trump is backing out.

Canceling.

Withdrawing.

Refusing to participate.

Hiding in Mar-a-Lago.

Vice President Harris isn’t. She said yesterday, about the September debate Trump already agreed to: “I’m ready. Let’s go.�

Vice President Harris is dong more events in a day than ex-president Trump is doing in a week. Hanging out at Mar-a-Lago and staging fake cabinet meetings is not campaigning. 

Republicans will eventually realize that they have a real problem. Their 78-year-old nominee doesn’t like to leave the house more than once or twice a week. Trump is still acting like he has this election won when the polling has already shifted beneath him.

In another week or less, Donald Trump will probably be losing this election.

After the Democratic convention, he will likely be firmly behind.

This is the moment when Republicans should be out there defining VP Harris, and their nominee should be leading the charge. Instead, Trump is at home, playing golf and pretending to be president.

Trump is scared to debate Harris because he doesn’t want to be exposed on stage by a younger politician. It’s the same reason he refused to debate Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis during the Republican presidential primary.

The election has turned. It is now about Donald Trump, and he seems too scared to agree to a debate or two with Kamala Harris.

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