Harris up 8 points on Trump in Virginia, Kaine up 10 on Cao, new Emerson poll finds

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Vice President Kamala Harris leads former President Donald Trump by eight points and Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine leads Republican challenger Hung Cao by 10 points in a new poll of Virginia voters.

The new survey from Emerson College/The Hill and WAVY-TV 10/WVBT FOX 43 was conducted from Sept. 22-24 and polled 860 likely voters in the Commonwealth.

The 10-point gap (now 51% to 41%) between Kaine and Cao is the same as it was in a previous Emerson poll from back in July before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. That poll had Trump up two points (45.4% to 43.4%) over Biden, with 11% of likely voters still undecided.

Just over two months later, Harris has a significant lead, 52% to 44%, picking up a large chunk of undecided and independent voters, the latter of which supported Trump over Biden in the last poll, 46% to 38%.

“Trump’s support has not significantly shifted since Harris became the nominee in Virginia; instead, undecided voters have moved off the sidelines to back Kamala Harris,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.

Independents polled this time support Harris, 52% to 38%. Emerson emphasized support from women voters is up 20 points now for Harris (58% to 38%) compared to only a 6-point lead for Biden (47% to 41%).

Virginia voters say overall, the economy is their biggest issue, with housing affordability second. Here’s the breakdown of top issues those those polled:

It’s also important to point out that those polled also voted 51.4% for President Joe Biden and 41.4% for former President Trump in the 2020 election, in line with Biden’s 10-point win margin in Virginia in 2020. Just 4% polled said they’ve already voted, but the rest said they were “very likely” to vote this election season.