First poll puts Harris ahead of Biden, in striking distance of Trump

The first national poll released after Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee puts her within striking distance of former President Donald Trump, with 47 percent support to Trump's 49 percent.

"Harris and former President Trump are in a race that is too close to call with Trump receiving 49 percent support and Harris receiving 47 percent support," the poll found, according to a release. "There is no clear leader as the lead is within the margin of error."

The poll was conducted by Quinnipiac University from July 19th through July 21st and released on Monday.

In a larger sample that includes an additional four candidates, Harris falls slightly behind. Trump leads with 45 percent support; Harris has 41 percent; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. hits 6 percent; the Green Party's Jill Stein nabs two percent, and Libertarian Chase Oliver and independent Cornel West each net one percent support.

Additionally, the poll found that 62 percent of voters think President Biden's dropping out of the race was the right thing to do.

"The dramatic reset at the top of the Democratic ticket does little to move the race as Vice President Harris enters the fray with numbers similar to President Biden," Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

A previous poll, released June 26, had Trump ahead of Biden, 49 percent to 45 percent.

One negative for Harris, as noted by Atlanta News First: "Forty-six percent of voters have a favorable opinion of Trump, while 49 percent have an unfavorable opinion of him. This is the highest favorability rating for Trump since the Quinnipiac University Poll first asked this question of registered voters in May 2015."

Additionally, according to the poll, "In the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Trump, a majority (53 percent) of voters say Trump's reaction has no impact on their view of him, while 30 percent say it makes them think more favorably of him, and 15 percent say it makes them think less favorably of him."