Harris and Trump ‘neck and neck’ heading into crucial debate, says new poll

White House contenders will go head-to-head in Philadelphia on Tuesday night on ABC News

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are running neck and neck ahead of this week’s high-stakes presidential debate, according to a new poll.

The vice president and her Republican rival are separated by just one point days before they take the debate stage in Philadelphia the poll by The New York Times/Siena College found.

The poll was taken between September 3 and September 6 and found 47 percent of likely voters backing Harris. Meanwhile, 48 percent of likely voters backed Trump in the poll.

Tuesday night’s ABC News debate will be the first for Harris but the second for Trump after he took on Joe Biden in June.

The event went so badly for Biden that it ultimately forced the president to withdraw from the 2024 race amid Democratic concerns about his ability to defeat Trump.

Kamala Harris takes a photo as she visits Penzeys Spices on a campaign stop in Pittsburgh on Saturday (AP)

Biden was quickly replaced by Harris who has seen a bounce in the polls amid renewed enthusiasm among Democrats. This has seen monster fundraising numbers for Harris who took in a historic $361m in August, nearly tripling the amount raised by Trump.

The Independent’s tracking of the average of national polls last week had Harris with a 3.1 percent national lead over Trump.

The Times/Siena poll found 30 percent of likely voters said they believed “the United States is on the right track,” while 60 percent disagreed with that statement.

The poll was made up of 1,695 registered voters, with a 2.8 percentage point margin of error.