Friday Briefing

A new Times/Siena poll found Kamala Harris faring better with young and nonwhite voters than President Biden had.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times

New poll shows a tighter U.S. race

Kamala Harris begins a 103-day sprint for the presidency in a virtual tie with Donald Trump, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, which showed Democrats rallying behind the vice president as the presumptive nominee. Only 14 percent said they would prefer another option.

Trump led Harris 48 percent to 47 percent among likely voters and 48 percent to 46 percent among registered voters in a head-to-head match, a marked improvement for Democrats over Biden’s showing earlier this month. At rallies, Trump has begun caricaturing his new opponent as a left-wing radical and a “lunatic.”

Harris’s swift reassembling of the Democratic coalition seems to have narrowed the significant advantage Trump had over President Biden. She had 93 percent support from Democrats in the poll, the same share Trump was getting from Republicans. Barack Obama is expected to back her candidacy soon, insiders said.

Go deeper: Harris was faring better among groups with whom Biden had been weakest, especially younger and nonwhite voters. Some Democrats fear she might not retain the strengths Biden has had among older voters, among whom the poll does show some erosion of Democratic support.

For more: The poll is full of findings unlike any we’ve seen this cycle, with the exception of Trump’s slight lead, Nate Cohn writes.

Trump conviction: Manhattan prosecutors argued that the Supreme Court’s decision this month granting the former president broad immunity for official actions he took in the White House had “no bearing” on his criminal hush-money conviction.