**Poll Shows Harris and Trump Locked in Tight Race as Election Day Approaches**

A recent poll suggests Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are neck-and-neck in the race for the popular vote, both securing 48 percent support among likely voters. The survey, conducted by TIPP Insights, comes less than two weeks before Election Day and carries a margin of error of ±2.7 percentage points.

Some experts, such as political science professor Costas Panagopoulos from Northeastern University, have noted that this tie reflects the general trend across multiple reputable polls. "When taking the margins of error into account, the race is incredibly close, particularly in key battleground states," Panagopoulos explained, emphasizing that the distribution of votes in these battlegrounds will be crucial to determining the overall outcome.

TIPP Insights, which earned recognition as the most accurate pollster by The Washington Post in 2020, claims that momentum may be shifting in favor of Trump. Raghavan Mayur, director of the TIPP Insights poll, highlighted that national polls often distort the numbers due to an inherent bias towards states like California and New York, which typically lean Democratic. "Despite this skew, the popular vote doesn't directly influence the Electoral College," Mayur stated, pointing out that Trump had narrowly lost the popular vote by 4.5 points in 2020 but came within 45,000 votes in three battleground states of winning reelection.

In a concerning shift for Harris, she currently trails behind where President Joe Biden stood in polling four years ago. The RealClearPolling average places Trump slightly ahead by 0.1 percentage points as of Sunday, contrasting sharply with Biden's 7.4-point lead over Trump at the same time during the 2020 race. Similarly, on October 27, 2020, Biden was leading by 3.5 percentage points in top battleground states according to the RealClearPolitics average, while Trump now leads those states by 0.9 points.

Reflecting on the 2016 and 2020 elections, Biden was successful in both the popular vote and the Electoral College while Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College against Trump.

Other recent surveys have echoed the TIPP Insights findings, indicating a tightening race between Harris and Trump. Betting platforms and Electoral College models by sources like FiveThirtyEight and Decision Desk HQ have also shown an upward trend in Trump's chances of victory.

While increased buzz surrounds Trump, some analysts urge caution. "Short-term fluctuations in polling often represent random noise," cautioned D. Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky. He urged not to read too much into recent changes.

The coming days will be critical as both candidates vie for every last vote in what promises to be a razor-thin contest.