Democrats spend another week wondering if Kamala Harris has let her momentum in the 2024 race slip away completely.
The Harris campaign’s series of bad PR this week included a continued decline in the polls, a widely criticized CNN town hall, Donald Trump beating her to Joe Rogan’s blow and even fellow Democrats criticizing her rhetoric.
Harris now trails Trump in the polling average in the crucial swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to Really clear policy.
Fear is now gripping Harris’ campaign and the “vibes” are fading as prominent Democratic lawmakers, as well as the liberal media, have been forced to publicly acknowledge that the campaign is faltering at the final hurdle.
One Democratic strategist admitted on The Hill: ‘Yes, it’s close, but are things going our way? No. And no one wants to admit it openly. Could we still win? Maybe. Should anyone be even a little bit optimistic right now? No.’
While some noted that Harris is taking risks like teaming up with Liz Cheney and holding rallies in red Texas in the final weeks of the campaign, another strategist put it bluntly: ‘If this is a vibe choicethe current vibes aren’t very good.’
Democrats spend another week wondering if Kamala Harris has let her momentum in the 2024 race slip away completely.
Donald Trump beating Harris in Joe Rogan’s slam exacerbated an already bad PR week for Harris
Team Harris clearly hoped to make progress with their exclusive meeting with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in the swing state of Pennsylvania, which took place in lieu of a debate in which Trump declined to participate.
But it was Harris’ inability to provide clear answers on both domestic and foreign policy, and her characteristic meandering responses throughout the 90-minute session, that caused even left-leaning CNN panelists to criticize her afterward.
Veteran Democratic strategist David Axelrod, who helped elect Barack Obama and was one of his top advisers, summed up Harris’ performance as “word salad city.”
Van Jones, another prominent CNN host who also worked in the Obama administration, echoed Axelrod’s key point.
“The word salad gets on my nerves,” he said bluntly on air after finishing the town hall.
“I think some of the evasions are not necessary.”
And CNN’s Dana Bash later said of Harris that “if her goal was to close the deal, they’re not sure she did it.”
Team Harris clearly hoped to make progress with their exclusive meeting with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in the swing state of Pennsylvania, which took place in lieu of a debate in which Trump declined to participate.
Democratic pundits David Axelrod and Van Jones said that when Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t want to answer a question, what they said was that she went into ‘word salad’ mode.
Some of Harris’ responses even angered her fellow Democrats, such as when she agreed with Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, who this week reiterated his claim that the former president he wanted to govern as a fascist.
“Yes, I do,” he responded, echoing Joe Biden’s opinion on the matter. ‘Yeah. And I also think you should trust the people who know you best on this subject.’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams harshly criticized her for that response at a news conference Saturday.
‘Some political leaders in the city have made those comments at me; My answer is “No,” he said.
Adams criticized Trump’s comparisons to people like Adolf Hitler and asked Harris to tone it down.
‘I know what Hitler has done and I know what a fascist regime is like. “I think, as I’ve asked over and over again, that the level of conversation, I think we can all lower the temperature,” he added.
Liberals have become even more disheartened after it emerged that Trump’s interview with Joe Rogan racked up a staggering 17 million views on YouTube in less than 24 hours.
The three-hour meeting covered a wide range of topics, including UFOs, the John F. Kennedy assassination files, the border and healthy eating in America.
Mayor Eric Adams spoke at a news conference Saturday and was asked questions about preparing for Trump’s blockbuster rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
As soon as the episode was released shortly after 10 pm ET on Friday night, viewing numbers skyrocketed with 300,000 in the first 30 minutes.
By comparison, Kamala Harris’ appearance on the Call her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper has logged just 685,000 views in the two weeks since it was posted.
The vice president was also due to be interviewed by Rogan, but had to withdraw due to “scheduling conflicts,” a spokesperson said.
However, since details of Trump’s qualifications emerged, many liberals have begun urging Harris to sit down with the popular podcast host.
Ultimately, it may be the polls and Trump’s control over several key swing states that take down Harris.
He trails Trump in electoral averages in all the purple states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia.
Biden was able to win them all except North Carolina in 2020, while losing the three Midwestern states was the end of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, pushing Trump into the White House.
Senator John Fetterman warned in an interview with the New York Times that Trump’s message is connecting more strongly than ever in Pennsylvania.
Senator John Fetterman warned in an interview with the New York Times that Trump’s message connects more strongly than ever
Harris trails Trump in electoral averages in all of the purple states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia.
‘It’s amazing. I was doing an event in very, very red Indiana County. And there was a superstore of Trump stuff, which was a hundred feet long, and there were dozens of t-shirts and hats and bumper stickers and all kinds of, I mean, it’s like, Where does all this come from? “It’s the kind of thing that has taken on a life of its own,” he said.
Fetterman praised Harris’ campaign but was wary of Trump’s special relationship with his purple state and the appeal of adding Elon Musk’s endorsement, saying the Tesla CEO is in some ways “a bigger star than Trump.” “.
‘It’s just… it’s real. And now Musk is joining him. I mean, for a lot of people, that’s Tony Stark. That’s the richest guy in the world. And he’s obviously, and undeniably, a brilliant guy, and he says, “Hey, that’s my candidate for president.” “That’s really going to matter.”
TO Franklin and Marshall College survey in Pennsylvania shows Trump ahead of Harris by 50 percent to 49 percent among likely voters, but among all registered voters, the vice president still has a 48 percent to 44 percent lead.
In a separate Emerson College poll, also conducted in the Keystone State, Trump has a one-point lead among voters, indicating how close the race in Pennsylvania really is.
The poll puts the former president at 49 percent and the vice president at 48 percent. Another three percent of voters had a choice or were undecided.
Democrats like Jim Manley, who helped run the powerful political machine of the late Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, have been furious about how things have been handled because they still consider this a winnable election.
“It’s pretty frustrating that it’s so close, given how extreme and unhinged Trump’s rhetoric has become in recent weeks,” he said.
Since Beyonce and Michelle Obama held campaign events for Harris over the weekend, expect them to be part of a strategy to get the vice president over the line.
“I just hope and trust that they have a plan,” Manley added.