What’s the latest on the race between Trump and Harris? Depends on who you ask

(CNN) –In the past week, Americans listened to more news about former President Donald Trump than Vice President Kamala Harris. turning pointA CNN polling program tracks what average Americans are actually hearing, reading and watching about the presidential candidates throughout the campaign.

But after high-profile news stories that drew attention from across the political spectrum, including the presidential debate First assassination attempt Against Trump, this week’s data showed a marked difference in how Democrats and Republicans recalled hearing about the Republican nominee. Republicans focused heavily on the assassination attempt against the former president in Florida earlier this month, while Democrats continued to hear more about his baseless claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

In a recent survey conducted Sept. 20-23 by SSRS and Verasight on behalf of CNN, Georgetown University and a research group at the University of Michigan, three-quarters of Americans say they have read at least some news about Trump. 69% said the same about Harris. That’s a change from late August and early September, when roughly equal percentages heard news about each candidate.

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to mention the word “assassination” and other phrases related to Trump’s assassination attempt, such as references to the golf course where the attempt took place.

“Donald Trump is campaigning and the situation is dangerous for him. He recently suffered a second assassination attempt on the golf course,” one respondent wrote.

Democrats paid more attention September Presidential DebateMentioning words like “lie” and references to Trump’s false claims that Ohio immigrants eat pets. “Keep spreading the Springfield story about Haitian immigrants eating local pets,” replied another. “He uses anti-Semitic tropes in his speeches. “He continues to spread lies about his performance in the debate.”

Political independents mentioned both topics, the survey found, and Americans on the other side were more likely to mention words that refer more broadly to the presidential race, such as “campaign” or “election.”

Part of the disparity between Democrats and Republicans may be due to differences in the sources of information they consume, but it also reflects differences in the messages that resonate most with each group, as well as the tendency of supporters of each side to describe that message when asked, often reflecting their own political sensibilities.

Meanwhile, when asked what they’ve seen, read or heard about Harris, Americans’ responses included the word “debate,” a reference to her performance in her first presidential debate and her desire for a rematch against Trump. His interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The sentiment behind the words Americans used to describe what they heard about Harris was more positive than the words Americans used to describe the news about Trump. This does not mean that they expressed warm feelings about her personally, but rather that what they said about her was in relatively positive terms and tones.

However, the gap in sentiment about the two candidates was significantly narrower after the debate than last week. The tone of the responses regarding Harris was slightly more negative than positive, bringing her sentiment to a level similar to what it was before the debate, while Trump remained in negative territory.