Former President Donald Trump has extended his lead in the state of Ohio, according to the latest Washington Post poll.

Trump, who won Ohio in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, currently leads Vice President Kamala Harris by six points in the Buckeye State, which is the home of his running mate, Sen. JD Vance. The poll, which surveyed 1,002 likely voters, also found that 57% of respondents viewed the claims Trump made about Haitian migrants in Springfield "eating people's pets," as probably or definitely false, while 24% said they were probably or definitely true.

Harris is reported to be leading Trump, 46% to 43%, nationally, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday (October 8), having previously led by a 2% margin. The poll does, however, have a margin of error of about 3% points, meaning the two candidates remain in a tight race.

On Monday (October 7), Trump was reported to have gained ground on Harris in the first Yahoo News/YouGov survey released after the vice presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz. Trump, who previously trailed by four points, is now tied with Harris at 47% among likely voters.

Additionally, 41% of respondents who watched the vice presidential debate believed that Vance was the winner, while 32% thought Walz had the advantage and 19% viewed it as a draw. Last week, Harris was reported to have a 50% to 48% edge over Trump among national voters in the Emerson College poll for the month of October, while 1% of respondents claim they support someone else and another 1% remain undecided.

The vice president had previously held a 2% advantage in the Emerson poll for the month of September.

“The margin between the candidates has stayed the same since early September, when Harris held 49% and Trump 47%,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling. “Harris maintains a slight edge, though less than [President Joe] Biden’s four-point lead in Emerson 2020 national polls at this time.”

Harris has reportedly split voters on favorability at 50%, while 49% of respondents view Trump as favorable and 51% see him as unfavorable. Both vice presidential candidates were reported to have had 46% favorability ratings, respectively, prior to Tuesday's (October 1) debate, though Tim Walz had a 46% unfavorable view and 9% of respondents said they hadn't heard of him, while JD Vance had a 48% unfavorable view and 6% of respondents claimed they'd never heard of him.

The Afternoon News with Kitty O'Neal