By Staff, Agencies United States Vice President Kamala Harris has opened up a marginal two-percentage-point lead over Republican Donald Trump after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and endorsed her, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, followed the Republican National Convention where Trump formally accepted his party’s nomination on Thursday, and Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he was leaving the race and supporting Harris.

Harris, whose campaign claims she has secured the Democratic nomination, leads Trump 44% to 42% in the national poll, a difference within the 3-percentage-point margin of error.

In a previous poll conducted on July 15-16, Harris and Trump were tied at 44%, and Trump had a one-percentage-point lead in a July 1-2 poll, both within the same margin of error.

While nationwide surveys provide important insights into American support for political candidates, a few competitive states typically decide the outcome in the US Electoral College, which ultimately determines the winner of a presidential election.

The latest poll showed that 56% of registered voters agreed with the statement that Harris, 59, is “mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges,” compared to 49% who said the same of Trump, 78.

Only 22% of voters assessed Biden, 81, in this way.

Biden ended his re-election effort following a debate with Trump in which he often stammered and failed to aggressively counter Trump’s attacks, some of which included falsehoods.

In a hypothetical ballot including independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr., Harris led Trump 42% to 38%, an advantage outside the margin of error.

Kennedy, favored by 8% of voters in the poll, has yet to qualify for the ballot in many states ahead of the November 5 election.

The poll, conducted online, surveyed 1,241 US adults nationwide, including 1,018 registered voters