What’s new on the Trump-Harris race? It depends on who you ask

(CNN) – Americans were more likely to hear news about former President Donald Trump than Vice President Kamala Harris last week, according to The Breakthrough, a CNN polling project that tracks what average Americans actually hear, read and watch about the presidential candidates.

But after a flurry of high-profile news stories that largely captured attention across the political spectrum — including the presidential debate and Trump’s first assassination attempt — this week’s data shows a significant divergence between what Democrats and Republicans had each heard about the Republican nominee. Republicans focused more on the assassination attempt against the former president in Florida earlier this month, while Democrats continued to say they were hearing more of his baseless claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

In the latest poll, conducted Sept. 20-23 by SSRS and Verasight on behalf of a research team from CNN, Georgetown University and the University of Michigan, three-quarters of Americans said they had heard at least some news about Trump had consumed marginally. This surpasses the 69% who said the same about Harris. That’s a shift from late August and early September, when roughly equal shares recalled hearing news about each of the candidates.

Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to mention the word “assassination” and other phrases related to the Trump assassination, such as references to the golf course where the assassination took place.

“Donald Trump is on the campaign trail and things are getting dangerous for him. He recently had a second attempt at life on a golf course,” one respondent wrote.

If anything, Democrats remained focused on the September presidential debate, using words like “lies” and allusions to Trump’s false claim that migrants in Ohio were eating pets. “He continues to spread the Springfield story about Haitian immigrants eating local pets,” another respondent wrote. “He uses anti-Semitic expressions in his speeches. He continues to spread falsehoods about his performance in the debate.”

Political independents mentioned both sets of issues, the poll found, and Americans across the aisle were about equally likely to mention words more broadly related to the presidential election, such as “campaign” or “election.”

Some of the disparity between Democrats and Republicans could be due to differences in media sources. But it may also reflect differences in the news stories that resonate more with each group — as well as the way partisans on both sides are likely to describe those stories when asked, often reflecting their own political feelings.

Meanwhile, when asked what they had seen, read or heard about Harris, Americans’ answers included the word “debate” – a reference to both her performance in her first presidential debate and her stated willingness for a rematch against Trump – as well on Herself Interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The sentiment behind the words Americans used to describe what they heard about Harris remained more positive than the words they used to describe the news about Trump. This does not mean that they expressed warmer feelings for her personally, but rather that what they said about her tended to be phrased in relatively positive words and in a relatively positive tone.

However, the difference in opinion between the two candidates after the debate was significantly smaller than last week. The tone of responses regarding Harris was slightly more negative than positive, resulting in her sentiment level being roughly in line with pre-debate levels, while Trump’s sentiment level remained in negative territory.

The CNN Wire
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