Harris leads Trump in new presidential poll

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is making some of the Republican Party’s old surrogates her own as she gains ground against her Republican rival Donald Trump, pollster Frank Luntz said Tuesday.

“Harris is taking pages from the Republican playbook,” Luntz said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

The political strategist meant this as a compliment to the Vice President.

He praised Harris for her “important use of language,” noted her focus on small business issues and described herself as a capitalist. He also noted the emphasis on freedom during her party’s Democratic National Convention.

“If you just listen to those general statements, she actually sounds like a moderate Republican,” Luntz said.

“So the challenge for the Trump campaign is to stop these incessant character attacks and challenge them on the specific issues and their claims.”

“Because, let me tell you something: If you look at the recent New York Times poll, it’s starting to take hold,” he added.

That poll from The Times and Siena College, released Tuesday, found Harris leading Trump nationally for the first time since President Joe Biden dropped out of the election as the presumptive Democratic nominee in mid-July.

The poll of 3,385 likely voters surveyed Sept. 29 through Sunday gave Harris a slight 49% to 46% lead over Trump, within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

The previous Times/Siena poll in mid-September found the candidates tied at 47%.

The new poll found Harris making gains among older voters and Republicans.

And for the first time in the Times/Siena poll, more respondents identified Harris as the candidate representing change, rather than Trump.

Luntz said he has seen similar changes to Harris in focus groups of undecided voters he monitors.

He said those voters had “largely moved away from Joe Biden” before the president gave up the race.

But “after that first debate, they’re leaning toward Kamala Harris,” Luntz said, referring to her Sept. 10 showdown with Trump.

“And right now they are asking: Who will tell me the truth?”

Luntz also commented on Harris’ appearance on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” which aired Monday night.

It “took a while,” but Harris is now taking “the tough interviews” and being “challenged,” he said.

Harris has been criticized for avoiding unscripted public appearances and major media interviews since taking the Democratic nomination.

But her “60 Minutes” interview flipped that script, Luntz argued, because Trump backed out of a scheduled appearance on the same show and refused to debate Harris again.

“It’s Donald Trump who is avoiding the debates,” Luntz said. “She deserves credit for that.”

Trump’s campaign initially claimed that negotiations with “60 Minutes” had broken down because the show insisted on verifying Trump’s claims live.

The campaign later insisted that Trump deserved, but never received, an apology from the show’s reporter, Lesley Stahl, for her handling of his earlier appearance.

Luntz accused Harris of failing to provide specifics in her “60 Minutes” interview about her claim that she would finance her economic plans in part by ensuring that the wealthiest Americans “get their fair share.” Pay taxes.”