BY SARA DORN, FORBES STAFF

Vice President Kamala Harris is up four points over former President Donald Trump in a new Forbes/HarrisX survey taken after last week’s debate—the latest poll that shows voters believe Harris outperformed Trump in the debate, but it largely hasn’t changed her standing in the horserace.

Harris leads Trump by three points, 48% to 45%, with 8% undecided, in the HarrisX survey of 3,018 registered voters taken Sept. 11-13 (margin of error 1.8), and she gains a point, 52% to 48%, when voters who are undecided but are leaning toward a specific candidate are factored in.

That’s only a slight improvement in Harris’ polling since facing off against the former president: Harris and Trump were tied, at 45%, with 10% undecided, in a pre-debate HarrisX survey of 1,003 registered voters taken Sept. 9-10 (margin of error 3.1), and Harris is up by two points, 51% to 49% with so-called leaners accounted for.

The survey is consistent with other post-debate polls that show Harris’ lead has largely remained stable since the Sept. 10 debate, despite pundits and poll respondents saying she won: She’s up five points in a Morning Consult survey conducted a day after the debate, a one-point improvement from her lead in a Morning Consult poll taken the day of the debate, and she’s up five points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday, also a one-point increase from her advantage in an Aug. 21-28 Reuters/Ipsos survey.

The majority of respondents, 58%, told HarrisX the vice president outperformed Trump, while 42% said the debate made them more likely to want to vote for Harris, compared to 33% who said the same about Trump.

The stagnation reflects dissatisfaction among swing voters and undecided voters on the candidates’ policies, HarrisX CEO Dritan Nesho explained, noting “that missing something appears to be a deeper focus on issues like inflation and the economy, and a vision for the future—both candidates missed an opportunity there.”

Among undecided voters, 60% told HarrisX Trump gave them no information or very little about his plans for inflation during the debate, and 65% said the same about his plans for the economy, while 58% said the same about Harris’ plans for inflation and 59% about her plans for the economy.

Meanwhile, just 20% of undecided voters said Harris adequately focused on her vision for the next four years during the debate, and just 11% said the same about Trump.

“For the next 45 days this election Trump v. Trump and Harris v. Harris—or who is best able to build themselves up with the 8% of undecideds and 18% of swing voters yet to make up their mind who are issues voters and don’t care much about presentation and rhetoric,” Nesho said.

Harris outperformed Trump in every debate metric the survey asked about: their behavior/temperament (53% to 36%), their grasp on the policies/issues (49% to 44%), the values they communicated (52% to 41%) and their vision on the future (52% to 44%). More voters (48%) said they feel more confident in her ability to govern as president after the debate, compared to 35% who said the same about Trump. Some 33% said it made them less confident in Harris’ ability and 19% said it had no impact, while 40% said it made them less confident in Trump and 25% said it had no impact.

33%. That’s the share of voters who said inflation is the most important issue in the election. Voters were split, at 40%, on whether Trump or Harris demonstrated a better grasp on the issue during the debate, with 11% saying neither and 9% saying they don’t know. Key Background

Harris has erased Trump’s national polling lead since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, and she announced her campaign on July 21. In a HarrisX poll days before Biden left the race, Trump led the president 48%-40%, or 53%-47% with leaners. The race is still within single digits nationally and is even closer in the seven battleground states likely to decide the election. Harris and Trump met—and debated—last week, their first and likely only face-off of the campaign as Trump has said he won’t debate Harris again.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/09/17/new-harrisxforbes-poll-harris-won-debate-but-it-largely-hasnt-changed-voters-minds/