A new poll from The Wall Street Journal has found Vice President Kamala Harris neck and neck with Donald Trump after President Biden vacated the Democratic nomination for November’s election. 

“Only 37% of Biden voters were enthusiastic about him in early July, and now 81% of Harris voters are enthusiastic about her,” Democratic pollster Mike Bocian, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster David Lee, told the Journal. “This is an astounding change.”

The former president maintains a 2% lead over Harris in a two-person race, within the Journal’s 3.1% margin of error, indicating Harris has cut into the six-point lead Trump had over President Biden before Biden withdrew from the race last weekend.

When the field expands to include Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other independent and third-party candidates, the gap slips to a slender 1% lead for Trump over Harris, 45% to 44%. Part of that shift resulted from the change in voter demographics as she has galvanized Democrats and brought high levels of enthusiasm into the party. 

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Harris raised $100 million from over 1.1 million unique donors between Sunday afternoon to Monday evening after she announced she would run in place of Biden, marking what her campaign claimed to be the “largest 24-hour raise in presidential history.” 

The Journal poll does include good news for Trump, however. Republican pollster David Lee pointed out that Trump was trailing Biden in the July 2020 Journal poll by nine points. 

“Donald Trump is in a far better position in this election when compared to a similar time in the 2020 election,” Lee told the Journal.

Voters favor Trump on key issues like the economy, immigration, foreign policy and crime and lean toward Harris on abortion.

“Instead of what was shaping up to be a Trump win, America has a real, bona fide race on its hands,” veteran political scientist and New England College President Wayne Lesperance told Fox News Digital this week. “Game on.”

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A tied national poll would give Trump an advantage in the Electoral College “given the way the country’s population is dispersed,” according to the Journal. But Harris has yet to pick a vice presidential candidate, with the likes of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper likely to shake up those numbers. 

Vice President Kamala Harris drew a large crowd Tuesday afternoon in West Allis, Wis., at a rally.  (Fox News Digital)

In Michigan, Harris and Trump remain in a dead heat, according to a Fox News poll released Friday, which marked a three-point shift for Harris, up from Biden’s 46% in April polling. 

The poll found that men favor Trump by 13 points, while women back Harris by 12. Trump has a two-point advantage with voters over 45 years old, while Harris has a five-point advantage with voters under 35 years old. Whites without a college degree pick Trump by 15 points, and Harris has a three-point advantage among Whites with a degree and voters of color, who back her by 39 points. 

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The race has tightened in battleground states overall, which will prove welcome news for Democrats who pushed for Biden to drop out on word that polling indicated a collapse in those states. 

The Butler, Pa., crowd at former President Trump’s rally (Fox News)

In Minnesota, Harris has a six-point lead, while Trump has a one-point advantage in Wisconsin. The two remain tied in Pennsylvania. 

Fox News surveys in those battleground states found that Trump is meeting or exceeding his 2020 vote share when put into a two-way race with Harris, with greater support among voters who prioritize the economy and immigration as their top issues. Voters who consider abortion a top issue favor Harris. 

Harris also enjoys higher favorable ratings than Trump in each state except Michigan, where they remain tied. 

Fox News Digital’s Dana Blanton contributed to this report.  

Gun control activists are ramping up spending to elect presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris president and help Democrats capture the House of Representatives in November. 

GIFFORDS, a gun violence prevention group founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, on Friday announced a $15 million campaign targeting battleground state voters. The ad buy is for television, digital advertising and direct mail, as well as for sending Giffords and surrogates to stump for Harris and down-ballot candidates who support tougher gun laws. 

“With just over 100 days until election day, GIFFORDS will redouble its efforts to support champions who are committed to saving lives — including ensuring that Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the next president of the United States,” said Emma Brown, executive director for GIFFORDS.

The multi-million dollar campaign will focus on swing states like Michigan and Arizona for the presidential election, and swing congressional districts in California and New York, which could determine control of the House of Representatives next year, NBC News first reported.

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“Across the country, Americans are crystal clear: they want elected leaders who stand up to the gun lobby and put public safety first,” said Brown.

GIFFORDS pointed to internal polling conducted in June that found 70% of American voters in battleground districts are “extremely” or “very” concerned about gun violence. The group argues that key groups of voters — particularly women, Latino and Black Americans — strongly support tougher gun laws and will make the difference in close races if motivated to get to the polls.

“This year is critically important, and we look forward to supporting allies committed to preventing gun violence at every level of government — from the state legislative level to Congress, and giving Vice President Harris effective governing partners when she wins in November,” Brown said. 

A Fox News poll conducted in June found that 45% of Americans ranked guns as an “extremely important” issue, making it the 7th most “extremely important” to voters out of a list of 10 issues. The highest-ranked issues were “Future of American democracy” (68%), “Economy” (66%) and “Stability and normalcy” (58%). 

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Giffords exits following a campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris, Thursday, July 25, 2024 in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)

Erich Pratt, the senior vice president for Gun Owners of America, a Second Amendment group, cast doubt on the contention that gun control is a motivating issue for large swathes of voters.

“It’s undeniable that the policies of Kamala Harris and this administration are responsible for the crime crisis our nation currently faces. Threatened confiscation of common self-defense firearms, coupled with soft on crime officials at the state and local levels in major urban centers across the country, have not helped Americans feel safe,” Pratt told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“If groups like GIFFORDS really cared about reducing violence, they’d be urging Harris, a former prosecutor herself, to mobilize U.S. attorneys offices against violent criminals. But instead, they would prefer to push unconstitutional disarmament that leaves everyday Americans defenseless. That won’t play well with swing state voters.”

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Harris prepares to swear in Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) with his wife Gabrielle Giffords in the old senate chamber for the Ceremonial Swearing on Jan. 3, 2023, in Washington, D.C.  (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic representative from Arizona, was grievously wounded in a 2011 assassination attempt when a gunman shot her in the head at an event in her district. The former congresswoman co-founded her eponymous group a decade ago to “end the gun lobby’s stranglehold on our political system,” according to the GIFFORDS website. 

Her husband is Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who is reportedly one of the top contenders to be Harris’ running mate. 

Giffords appeared at an event for Harris on Thursday at the Salt & Light church in Pennsylvania, where she met with community activists in Philadelphia. The predominantly Black neighborhood where she spoke has been impacted by gun violence, including an incident last weekend in which three people were killed and at least six others wounded. 

Giffords spoke briefly about her long recovery from the shooting in 2011, which killed six people during a meeting with constituents at a Tucson grocery store. Harris’ other surrogates, including Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton, framed the November presidential contest as a choice between Harris, who would sign a ban on assault weapons, and more gun violence under Republican Donald Trump, who gun-rights groups back.

“We are overwhelmed with violence all across America from rural Pennsylvania to inner city neighborhoods like where we are today,” McClinton said. “We as voters can make a decision on having a more violent United States or safer communities in every part of America.”

Both Giffords and McClinton, an ally to Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is also under consideration for the Democratic vice presidential nomination — dodged questions about the veepstakes. Giffords aides told the Associated Press the event had long been planned before President Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris for his job, and certainly before her husband emerged as a potential candidate to run on the 2024 ticket. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

James Reem has lived in a tent on the corner of Fell and Baker streets for more than a year. An artist by trade, he said he was evicted from his apartment after troubles with his landlord and for a time lived out of a van. After the van got towed, someone gave him a tent and he turned to the streets.

His tent sits outside the city’s only DMV office, across the street from the Panhandle, a lush strip of greenery that opens into Golden Gate Park in a family-friendly neighborhood adorned by rows of manicured Victorians.

It’s a comfortable spot, said Reem, 59, with a sidewalk wide enough to accommodate his tent and still leave room for pedestrians. Some days, Reem is one of a dozen or more tent-dwellers on the concrete stretch.

“There are a few of us that stick together,” Reem said.

His adopted neighborhood is among dozens of sites likely to be targeted as the city launches what Mayor London Breed has said will be an assertive campaign to force people off the streets in response to a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

An estimated 8,300 people are living homeless in San Francisco. And despite a years-long effort to move people into temporary shelter or permanent housing, unsanctioned encampments remain a widespread and visible problem, often accompanied by garbage, theft and open drug use.

For years, Breed and other city officials said their hands were tied by decisions issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers many Western states, that deemed it cruel and unusual punishment to penalize someone for sleeping on the streets if no legal shelter was available.

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision in a pivotal June 28 ruling, saying that cities in California and the West may enforce laws restricting homeless encampments on sidewalks and other public property.

On Thursday, citing the ruling, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order requiring state agencies to remove encampments in their jurisdictions. While the directive doesn’t require cities to follow suit, Newsom urged them to do so, characterizing the proliferation of encampments as a health and safety hazard that requires immediate action.

Breed, a fellow Democrat, has also embraced the ruling. She said last week that, armed with the high court’s decision, she will spearhead a “very aggressive” effort to clear homeless encampments beginning in August. She said the effort could include criminal penalties for refusing to disperse.

Breed was not available for an interview Friday, and her office has yet to provide details of what the sweeps will entail or where people living in tents are expected to relocate. Her spokesperson, Jeff Cretan, said some of those details would come into clearer focus next week.

During a July 18 mayoral debate hosted by the local firefighters union, Breed acknowledged her decision to orchestrate sweeps was “not a popular” one but said it was a necessary step.

“We have had to move from a compassionate city to a city of accountability,” she said. “And I have been leading the efforts to ensure we are addressing this issue differently than we have before.”

She said the city has worked over the last several years to add shelter beds and disperse outreach workers to offer services and support. But even when outreach workers offer shelter, according to the mayor’s office, those offers are rejected nearly 70% of the time.

San Francisco has experimented with sanctioned tent cities in an effort to address the needs of its homeless population.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Breed’s crackdown is likely to offer headlines out of San Francisco that counter the narratives promoted by conservative pundits as Vice President Kamala Harris ramps up her presidential campaign. Her Republican opponents have long tried to paint Harris, who rose to political power in 2004 as San Francisco’s elected district attorney, as a California liberal whose policies have helped contribute to the surging homelessness and retail crime plaguing her home state.

But the Supreme Court’s ruling is proving divisive for California’s local Democratic leaders. More left-leaning Democrats, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, say the decision will allow cities to criminalize homelessness without doing anything to address the root causes, including addiction and a dearth of affordable housing. It’s a sentiment echoed by homeless advocates.

“This order won’t reduce homelessness or deter encampments, but it will leave vulnerable people even farther away from home and health than they are today,” Sharon Rapport, state policy director for the Corporation for Supportive Housing, said in an emailed statement.

Whether San Francisco has enough shelter beds to accommodate the potential wave of people pushed off the streets is unclear. Since Breed took office, the city has expanded shelter beds from about 2,500 to nearly 4,000, her office said, and has expanded permanent supportive housing to about 14,000 slots.

The DMV encampment where Reem lives is one of several that city officials have cleared time and again, only to see it return days later. So far this year, the encampment has been cleared more than a dozen times, according to the mayor’s office.

Reem says he feels safer outside than he does in an emergency shelter, where he worries about his belongings getting stolen. He said he would accept help from city workers. But he also said he thinks Breed’s plan is less about helping people like him than it is about clearing out tents that make the public uncomfortable.

“They’re not concerned about the homeless,” he said. “They’re concerned about getting rid of us.”