• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 3, 2024

A "Fox News Poll" now shows Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris gaining in key "sunbelt" states -- long presumed to be strongholds of President Trump.

The branding of news reports with "Fox News" should go without notice here. The "Fox News" brand name has a strong association with former president Trump -- largely positive -- but at times going the other direction.

After the recent poll, Trump complained about Fox News: “It’s that time of year again. Fox is releasing atrocious polling,” his campaign said in a statement Thursday. "[Former] President Trump continues to outperform polling from past cycles.”

TV networks including MSNBC and CNN ran the story of a Fox News branded poll on Thursday morning. The Fox News poll story was released on Wednesday at 6 PM ET. 

The Fox News Poll was on the Fox News website on Thursday -- among top 5 stories -- until 6 AM ET that day, then lower on the home page until 8:30 AM. It continues to be available on the Fox News Polls hub.

The poll now shows Harris up by 1% in Arizona, and 2% both Georgia and Nevada. Trump is ahead by 1% in North Carolina.

Months ago, with President Biden assumed to be the Democratic Presidential candidate, it was a different story. At that time, Trump was 5% ahead in Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina, and 6% ahead in Georgia.

Still, polling can be fluid -- and apparently has marketing spin. Consumer perceptions of one preferred candidate being associated with one particular network is not new.

This latest Fox News Poll narrative has a connection with election night 2020, when Fox News was the first network to call the key state of Arizona to go the way of Joe Biden -- which pushed complaints from Trump’s close allies directly to Fox’s senior leadership. 

Fox then went on to project that Biden would also win Pennsylvania and Nevada, and ultimately the Presidency.

Journalism, facts, and truths come from all kinds of places -- perhaps even for some devoted TV news viewers and the not-so-obvious ones.

This story has been updated.