Narrowing Harris-Trump Gap... "Harris Struggles With Economic Issues"

[Anchor]
Less than a month before the U.S. presidential election, the gap between Vice President Harris and former President Trump is narrowing.

The ultra-close competition is intensifying, and Vice President Harris is becoming more urgent for the biggest issue of the presidential election, the leadership in the economy.

Correspondent Hong Sang-hee's report from Washington.

[Reporter]
The TV debate for the vice presidential candidate of the U.S. presidential election, which was evaluated as the victory of Republican Senator Vance on the 1st.

A survey of the presidential candidate's approval rating immediately after the vice presidential debate showed that former President Trump drastically narrowed the gap with Vice President Harris.

According to a survey of more than 1,700 people by Yahoo News and YouGov in the U.S., Vice President Harris' approval rating is 48 percent, and former President Trump's is 46 percent.

It's only a two percentage point difference.

Compared to Vice President Harris' 5 percentage point lead in the survey after the two's TV debate in September, President Trump immediately followed him under his chin.

In a survey of voters who said they were willing to vote, the two candidates had the same approval rating of 47%.

The general evaluation is that the vice president's TV debate would not have had a significant impact on the presidential candidate's approval rating, but analysts say that the effect of the presidential candidate's TV debate, which was held more than 15 days earlier than the previous presidential election, has already ended.

To make matters worse, there are still unfavorable internal and external factors for Vice President Harris.

Last week's U.S. port union strike ended three days later, but fears of "Milton" damage followed by a possible escalation between Israel and Iran and Hurricane Hurlin that swept through North Carolina and Georgia in the contested states.

With the presidential election less than a month away, Vice President Harris is focusing on economic issues.

It is struggling to win the hearts of workers, especially in Rust Belt contention areas such as Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

[CAMALA HARRIS / VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (STEP 4, MICHIGAN): This guy (Trump) has been a union wrecker all his life and has called union leaders "the dues or the suckers." Even as president, he didn't raise a finger to save the pensions of millions of workers.]

Former President Trump also holds Vice President Harris accountable for inflation, promising to make America prosperous.

[Donald Trump/Former U.S. President (WISCONSIN, 6th local time): With your vote in this election, we can seal borders, regain sovereignty, stop inflation, raise incomes, rebuild devastated communities, and start a new golden age for American prosperity and pride.]

The Hill, a U.S. political media outlet, said Harris was struggling with lower worker approval ratings than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, with the transport union declaring that it would not support a particular candidate.

The hottest issue in this presidential election is the economy.

While former President Trump is leading economic issues with illegal immigrant deportation and tariff pledges, whether Vice President Harris can turn voters' votes with economic pledges will be an important factor in determining the outcome.

I'm Hong Sang-hee from Washington.