As Election Day nears, our latest ABC News/Ipsos poll finds the race in a close 49-46 percent, Harris-Trump, among likely voters. Americans head to the polls beset by financial concerns, a dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates and a feeling the country has gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track. Still, each candidate has reasons for optimism as they present their final arguments: Harris looks strong among women, young women especially, while Trump performs well in his base of white voters without college degrees.

We’ll also be working behind the scenes on Election Day providing live exit poll analysis for ABC News’ TV coverage of the results. You can read our pre-election overview here. Tune in Tuesday at 7 p.m. for more.

Kamala Harris regained a slight lead over Donald Trump among likely voters in our latest ABC News/Ipsos poll, with Trump maintaining advantages on the economy and immigration, Harris on abortion, health care and most personal attributes. Results show both candidates consolidating their support among key demographic groups – including, for Trump, rural and white men without college degrees; and for Harris, Hispanic people and liberals. In another analysis, we report that half the country sees Trump as a fascist, vs 22 percent who say the same of Harris. Beyond ABC, results have been picked up by The Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, The Hill, The Denver Gazette, Forbes, MSNBC, NJ.com, The New Republic, Daily Kos and Business Insider.

Our latest ABC News/Ipsos poll finds a tightened presidential race, with sour views on the economy, differing preferences on issues such as abortion and immigration and a close split on whether people think the nation’s best days are ahead or behind it, all corresponding to vote preferences. A separate analysis examines Kamala Harris’ challenges defining herself as a change agent given her role in the unpopular Biden administration; a third piece finds both campaigns running even in voter contacts in the battleground states, albeit with a slight edge for Harris in voter assistance. Results have been covered in outlets including The Washington Post, Yahoo News, Newsweek here and here, The Denver Gazette and The Bulwark, among others.

Israelis broadly pick Donald Trump over Kamala Harris as better for Israel’s security and in turn favor Trump for the U.S. presidency in a national poll we’ve produced in partnership with PORI (Public Opinion Research Israel). Sharp political divisions in these results underscore the fault lines in Israeli politics.

While attention now is on Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah and Iran, the September survey also finds majority Israeli rejection of the suggestion that Israel is doing too little to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. To the contrary, “considering the challenges of conducting battles in populated areas,” 54 percent said Israel is doing too much to avoid such casualties.

The brief national survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews in Hebrew and Arabic, Sept. 8-22, 2024, among a random national sample of 1,012 respondents.

See our report here and pickup by ABC News and The Times of Israel.

The Charles Butt Foundation’s newly released 2024 Texas Education Poll finds Texans are overwhelmingly supportive of increasing state funding for a range of initiatives in K-12 public schools, including expanding career and technical training for students, providing tutoring for students with learning gaps and providing classroom support staff for teachers.

Eighty-four percent of public school parents in the state are satisfied with the quality of their child’s education and 70 percent give their community’s public schools an A or B grade, up from 56 percent in the Foundation’s inaugural 2020 poll. Texans also are supportive of teachers, with 75 percent saying they should have a great deal or good amount of influence in what’s taught in their community’s public schools, more than say so for other groups.

The extensive survey also explores Texans’ support for increasing state funding for various wraparound services, factors in school quality, their engagement and involvement with their local public schools, parent-teacher communication and school vouchers, among other topics.

We’re proud to have produced the fifth annual Texas Education Poll for the Charles Butt Foundation. See the full report here.

Americans by a 22-point margin see Kamala Harris as the winner of last week’s presidential debate and 37 percent in the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll say her performance made them see her more favorably – compared with 17 percent who say the same of her opponent, Donald Trump. Still the poll finds the contest essentially unchanged from pre-debate levels: While Harris maintains her small lead overall, Trump holds steady advantages in trust to handle the economy and inflation, the two issues Americans consistently say will be most important in determining their vote. In another illustration of just how locked-in the electorate is, the poll finds no positive impact for Harris from singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s recent endorsement: Just 6 percent of voters say it makes them more likely to vote for her, vs. 13 percent less likely. See coverage of the poll in Forbes, Barron’s, Mother Jones, The New York Post, Newsweek and The Hill, here and here.

It’s our fifth consecutive year producing the Charles Butt Foundation’s Texas Teacher Poll. This year’s statewide survey of Texas public school teachers identifies several challenges in the profession: Seventy-seven percent of Texas teachers feel they are not paid a living wage, with the median salary failing to keep pace with inflation; and 78 percent report having seriously considered leaving their position in the past year, holding at an elevated level since 2022. At the same time, camaraderie is high, with eight in 10 feeling highly valued by other teachers at their school, and the shares who feel valued by their administrators and by their students’ parents have increased since 2022.

The poll also covers teachers’ views on the biggest problems facing their schools, administrative support, classroom autonomy, leadership and career opportunities and school vouchers, among other topics. You can read the full report here.

We’re proud to have produced the 56th Annual PDK Poll for Phi Delta Kappa International, a professional association of educators. The PDK Poll (from 1969 to 2015, the Gallup/PDK poll) continues its long history of investigating attitudes on the public education issues of the day. This year’s poll finds broad support for efforts by the next administration in Washington, regardless of the winner, to increase its focus on education in several areas, especially preparing students to enter the workforce, attracting and retaining good teachers, addressing student mental health, helping students who have fallen behind academically and college affordability. Sixty-one percent (rising to 71 percent of public school parents) prefer a candidate for political office who favors increased funding for the public schools.

Among other results, just 40 percent would want a child of theirs to take up teaching in the public schools, down from 75 percent when first asked in 1969. Among people who would not want their child to become a public school teacher, two reasons stand out: Thirty-three percent cite inadequate pay and benefits and 27 percent cite a lack of discipline in the schools.

A full report and topline results are available on the PDK Poll website. Results have been covered in Education Week, The 74, Whiteboard Advisors and Educators Rising.

The latest ABC News/Ipsos poll finds Kamala Harris maintaining but not expanding her lead over Donald Trump after the Democratic convention. Produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, the poll shows advantages for Harris across personal attributes while Trump leads on trust to handle the election’s key issues, the economy and inflation, keeping the race closely contested. Americans rate Harris’ handling of her campaign better than Trump’s handling of his, and the poll finds a widening gender gap, with Harris expanding her pre-convention margin among women, particularly white women, and Trump expanding his among white men. Beyond ABC, results have been covered in The Washington Post, The Hill, Axios, CNN and The New York Post, among others.

The poll also investigated Americans’ trust in election results: Eighty-one percent said they’re prepared to accept the outcome of the election, regardless of the winner; that’s compared with 68 percent who think Kamala Harris will accept the outcome and just 29 percent who think Donald Trump will. See coverage at outlets ranging from The Times of India to The Independent and The Sierra Sun Times.

We’re proud to have partnered with the Knight Foundation to produce an in-depth study of Americans’ views of book restrictions in U.S. public schools. The study fills a critical information gap in the national conversation about book restrictions by providing rigorous, non-partisan analysis of a nationally representative, probability sample survey of more than 4,500 U.S. adults, including 1,138 parents of children in grades pre-K to 12.

The poll finds that two-thirds of Americans broadly oppose efforts to restrict books in public schools and 78 percent have confidence in their community’s public schools to select appropriate books for students. Despite general opposition to book restrictions, six in 10 see age appropriateness as a legitimate reason to limit access to certain materials. Ideology is a key variable in attitudes toward restrictions, with support highest among conservatives.

Twenty-three percent of Americans are aware of efforts to restrict books in their own community’s public schools. Just 3 percent personally have engaged on the issue in their communities – 2 percent to maintain book access, 1 percent to restrict it.

The full report, supplemental materials and dataset are available on the Knight Foundation’s website. Findings have been covered by Chalkbeat, Education Week, The Cato Institute, ABC News, The Tallahassee Democrat, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, NJ Spotlight News and Colorado Public Radio, among others.