With Election Day less than a month away, new polling by NBC News showed the presidential race tighter than ever, with both candidates head-to-head at 48% among registered voters.
The results, released Monday, mark a change from the September NBC News poll, which found Harris leading Trump by 5 points. All the results are within the poll's 3.1 percent margin of error.
One of the main developments in the September poll was Harris' double-digit increase in popularity - at 48% positive. In October, that dropped to 43% positive, with the decline coming mainly from independents and young voters.
“On the Harris campaign, I think it’s about her not being out there enough," said Northwestern University Political Science Professor Jaime Dominguez. "I think after awhile voters begin to tune out, but that’s why it’s important, particularly after these next few weeks, that both the campaigns get their message out, but more importantly that they get the ground game going because at the end of the day, that’s where it’s going to be decided."
Dominguez said Trump's campaign will likely continue to do what has been working for them.
“He’s just a known commodity," he said. "His message is out there, he just needs to keep saying it.”
The poll also points to a deep gender gap between the two with Harris leading with women by 14%, and Trump first among men, with a 16% lead.
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"She hasn’t really been directly engaged with voters," Dominguez said. "I think people are waiting to be courted, particularly minority men.”
Meanwhile, early voting in Chicago is off to a slower start compared to the 2020 and 2016 elections.
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"Early voting in Chicago is down a little bit from 2020 and 2016 since we’ve seen from previous election cycles," said Max Bever of the Chicago Board of Elections.
As of Sunday night, just over 7,000 ballots had been collected for early voting at Chicago sites.
"Where we’re at at this time we see around 12,000 early votes for 2020 and 2016, however what we’re seeing is a healthy vote-by-mail turnout so far," Bever said. “This will pick up in the next three weeks. It could be that voters are just waiting a little bit longer, people are still making up their mind."
However, Board of Elections officials believe it will pick up in the coming weeks and on Election Day once all 50 Wards open voting sites on Monday, Oct. 21. To find voting sites and location times, click here.
