A veteran Republican pollster has warned that Donald Trump is “destroying his re-election chances” after the former president fell behind Kamala Harris in recent polls.
Frank Luntz, dubbed “the Nostradamus of pollsters,” said last week that Harris is slightly favored to win, and has now revealed why he thinks Trump is slipping: “The campaign is disciplined; their candidate is not.”
“(Trump) is single-handedly destroying his chance at re-election. He is the weakest Democratic candidate in terms of record in a long time, but his insistence on making attacks personal and cruel is dulling their impact and actually backfiring,” Luntz said. The Guardian.
The announcement comes amid reports that Trump’s recent attacks on Harris, including claims that she “just happened to turn black,” have scared off donors. The vice president, on the other hand, is enjoying a honeymoon period with liberal media falling over themselves to promote her campaign and pollsters predicting her to win the White House.
Luntz says Trump can regain momentum by focusing on two key issues: the border crisis, which Harris presided over disastrously, and the faltering economy.
“Right now I think Trump is going to lose because he’s unable to stick to a message on inflation or immigration,” Luntz said. The Guardian.
Veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz has harsh words for Donald Trump, saying the former president is “destroying his chance at re-election”
Luntz (pictured), who has been called “the Nostradamus of pollsters,” said earlier this week that Kamala Harris is now slightly favored to win and recent polls appear to agree.
Trump was the heavy favorite last month when he appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee after being shot in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
But since Harris replaced Trump, liberal media has thrown their support behind her campaign and she has gained momentum. The latest Real Clear Politics polling average shows Harris holding a half-point lead over Trump.
In the betting averages, the advantage is larger, at 5.8 percentage points. In one recent example, Harris generated more confidence in the economy than Trump, marking a sharp shift in voter sentiment following Biden’s decision to withdraw.
The poll, conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, found Harris had a 1-point lead on the issue.
Another poll conducted by the New York Times and Siena College last week found Harris making gains in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Among likely voters in each state, 50 percent said they would likely vote for Harris, while 46 percent said they would vote for Trump.
Donors are concerned about Trump’s recent strategy, according to The New York Times.
At an August 2 dinner in the Hamptons, Trump’s top supporters hoped he would “signal that he was recalibrating his stance after a series of damaging gaffes.”
But he did address his “stop the steal” claims about the 2020 election that his advisers have reportedly told him to drop.
The former president last night risked further concern by falsely claiming that his Democratic opponent had doctored a crowd image at his rally last week in Detroit.
Republican sources told Axios over the weekend that the former president is “struggling to overcome his anger.”
The Trump campaign has considered many options to boost the president’s efforts, including the return of iconic campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, with endorsements from Melania and Lara Trump.
Trump’s daughter-in-law, who is also an RNC co-chair, held a meeting last weekend in which she described the race between him and Harris as a coin toss.
Lara Trump reportedly “laid down the cold, hard facts” to Donald just a day after the former president met with Conway, 57.
Trump’s advisers have called on the former president to be “tough” on Kamala Harris, calling her liberal and weak
The Trump campaign has considered many options to boost the president’s efforts, including the return of iconic campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, with endorsements from Melania and Lara Trump.
Conway, the first woman to lead a presidential campaign to victory, was one of Trump’s most ardent defenders on the campaign trail and in the White House before he left office in August 2020.
Trump’s 2024 campaign has suffered a triple whammy: the poor public reception to vice presidential candidate JD Vance, Harris’s “honeymoon period” upon entering the race and a similar effect on her choice of running mate, Tim Walz.
Now, what seemed to be a coronation for Trump to return to the White House against Biden has turned into a very close race, with Harris beginning to take the lead in the polls.
However, the “honeymoon phase” of Harris’ campaign and Walz’s announcement appear to be ending with accusations of “stolen valor” during the Minnesota governor’s military service.
Biden himself finally admitted on Sunday that he dropped out of the race because the polls between him and Trump were so dire that they threatened to wipe out Democrats at every level.
“A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought it was going to hurt them in the election,” Biden said in his first interview since ending his re-election campaign.
Joe Biden spoke about dropping out of the race in his first interview since ending his re-election bid with CBS Sunday Morning
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was among those who put pressure on Biden to step aside, and Biden said he was increasingly concerned that her continued candidacy would affect congressional races in the fall.
“And I was worried that if I stayed in the race that would be the topic… I would be interviewed about why Nancy Pelosi said (something)… and I thought that would be a real distraction,” she said in the interview with CBS News Sunday Morning anchor Robert Costa.
Luntz said earlier this week that he would advise Trump to talk about the border, immigration and the economy, while Harris should focus on her vision for getting the country back on top.
Trump has recently focused on personal attacks against Harris, giving her two new nicknames last week: “Kamabla” and “Kamala Crash.” He has also cast doubt on whether the first black female president is actually black. Harris has a black father and an Indian mother.
Harris, for her part, has mocked Trump for his remarks and focused on his personal failings, including his recent conviction in New York linked to a hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
“I think both campaigns are miscalibrated right now and don’t understand the electorate. That’s why, frankly, this election is up for grabs,” Luntz said.
In the end, no matter who voters choose, Luntz predicted the winner of the White House won’t be known until well after election night in November.
“We won’t know on election night,” he said. “In fact, let me go further. I don’t think we’ll know when the morning shows will air the next morning, because I think it’s going to be an incredibly close race.”
Harris entered the race on July 21 when President Joe Biden, 81, dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris following a disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate
Online betting odds have now turned in Harris’ favor, while Trump’s odds have narrowed considerably.
He is now scheduled to debate Trump on Sept. 10 on ABC, marking the first head-to-head meeting between the rivals in what polls show is a close race.
At a news conference at his Palm Beach, Florida, residence, Trump said he wanted additional debates on Sept. 4 and 25 that would air on Fox and NBC.
Echoing a recent line of attack from his campaign, Trump criticized Harris for not granting a press interview since launching her campaign.
“She can’t do an interview. She’s barely competent,” Trump said, before going on to call her “nasty,” a phrase he often uses to disparage women who criticize him.
Trump has given numerous interviews to the media, though they are usually with right-leaning media outlets and journalists. On Wednesday, he called into the morning show “Fox & Friends” and answered questions from the show’s hosts.
Trump announced the Palm Beach news conference on Thursday morning on his social media platform. Only a select group of journalists received the advance notice necessary to travel to his Florida resort in time. Reuters did not receive an invitation.
Harris answered a handful of questions from reporters after meeting with autoworkers in Wayne, Michigan, on Thursday after the United Auto Workers union endorsed her candidacy. She said she wants to schedule a face-to-face interview “before the end of the month.”