One of Kamala Harris’ top campaign advisers called publicly available polls “horses***” just as her race with Donald Trump tightens.
David Plouffe, senior adviser to the Harris-Walz campaign and former adviser to Barack Obama, was adamant while speaking on the ‘God Save America’ podcast that the presidential race is closer than some polls show.
‘I can’t speak to public polls. I spend very little time looking at them… most of them are horses***,” the strategist admitted.
“Some of them may be close, but overall, I would say any poll that shows Kamala Harris up four to five points in one of these seven states, ignore it,” he said, referring to critical battleground states.
“Any point that shows Donald Trump like this, ignore it.”
Barack Obama’s former campaign manager and senior adviser David Plouffe (pictured) said public polls showing a big gap between Harris and Trump are “horses***.”
A morning consultation survey of the first week of October found that Kamala Harris was five points ahead of Trump.
Similarly, a Reuters/Ipsos report survey of the last week of September found that support for the Democratic candidate has a six-point advantage.
The RealClearPolitics average of national polls currently shows Harris with just a 1.7-point lead over the 45th president.
The podcast, hosted by a host of former Obama staffers, features analysis and reactions from a veritable cast of left-wing pundits and politicians, giving them a candid platform to talk partisan politics and, of course, let off some steam.
‘This thing is very close; “It’s a racial margin, but again, I’d rather be us than him because I think we have the ability to get to 49 and a half or 50,” Plouffe told host Dan Pfieffer, another former Obama staffer.
“I’m much more confident in that than Donald Trump, but it’s going to be the same across the board, so I think we’re doing our best to be conservative on the data.”
President Barack Obama, accompanied by adviser Anita Dunn (right) and White House senior adviser David Plouffe, in 2012.
President Barack Obama greets senior advisor and former campaign manager David Plouffe (L) during a Democratic National Committee (DNC) event in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2011.
Former Obama Senior Advisor Dan Pfieffer (pictured) Hosts ‘Pod Save America’
‘This thing is very close. “It’s a race with a margin of error,” Plouffe added.
Harris-Walz’s Democratic strategist and campaign advisor shared that internal data also shows a close race.
And that there is a particular portion of Republican voters who could back Kamala this year.
“I think Kamala Harris can surprise at the end of the day with avowed Republicans or independents who are essentially Republicans,” Plouffe said.
“We’re seeing continued strength there, and that’s very important, given the size of those cohorts.”
But listen: I think it may be that our internal data is exactly right. But if I had to hazard a guess, I think I might be underestimating his strength among Republican-leaning independents. So we won’t put it in the bank, but let’s hope that’s the case,” he added later.
Plouffe said Trump’s campaign is doing a good job in some ways.
Trump’s “big challenge,” Plouffe said, is that he relies too much on finding new voters.
Still, he admitted: “If we look at the race, we give him credit for doing a good job there.”