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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has received several pieces of good news about her chances in battleground North Carolina.
A recent poll conducted by YouGo Blue on behalf of Carolina Forward saw Harris, the Democratic nominee, tied with Republican opponent Donald Trump with 46 percent of support in North Carolina.
Other polls conducted since Harris entered the race after President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid last month have shown Trump, who carried North Carolina in both 2016 and 2020, narrowly ahead.
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And in a reflection of the enthusiasm about Harris' historic candidacy among Democrats, new Democratic voter registrations have surpassed Republican registrations for the third week in a row in North Carolina.
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"It looks like the initial registration enthusiasm has slowed a bit, but it's still evident," Christopher Cooper, a political science and public affairs professor at Western Carolina University, wrote in a post for the Old North State Politics blog.
"There were more Democratic new registrants than Republican new registrants for the third week in a row."
The Trump and Harris campaigns have been contacted for comment via email.
Meanwhile, a judge ruled on Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can remain on North Carolina's presidential ballot.
The North Carolina Democratic Party had filed a complaint seeking to reverse the State Board of Elections' decision that declared "We the People"—used by Kennedy's supporters to get him on the ballot in a handful of states—an official party, arguing that it was a way to evade stricter requirements for independent candidates.
Kennedy had entered the race as a Democrat challenging Biden, but is now running as an independent candidate.
Democrats are concerned that Kennedy's presence on the ballot could siphon votes from their nominee in close swing state contests and sway the election in November.
For months, polling had indicated that the presence of Kennedy and other third-party candidates was hurting Biden more than Trump in battleground states.
But that appears to have changed since Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Several polls now show that Kennedy is taking away more support from Trump than Harris.
Because of this, Trump "has a real incentive to get Kennedy out of the race," David B. Cohen, professor of political science at the University of Akron in Ohio, previously told Newsweek.
Mike Tappin, a U.S. expert and honorary fellow at Keele University in the U.K., told Newsweek that support for Kennedy had dramatically dropped since Harris entered the race.
"I think one of the reasons for this is that the electorate didn't want to see Donald Trump and Biden have a rematch, and RFK Jr. was benefiting from that," Tappin said. "We now have a new, younger candidate in Harris and now we're seeing RFK Jr. suffering since Harris entered the race."
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