The New York Times podcast acknowledged what many of Kamala Harris' supporters feared since she first announced her candidacy: The initial enthusiasm sparked by her late entry into the presidential race has apparently dissipated.
In the episode of The Daily titled “Harris' Newlywed Life is Over,” New York Times/Siena Poll This gives former President Trump a 1 percentage point lead over Harris among voters nationwide.
The poll results send a bleak message about the state of Harris' campaign, said Nate Cohn, chief political analyst at The New York Times, who joined the podcast to analyze the results.
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the White House. (AP/Julia Nickinson)
“This poll could be signaling that the honeymoon, so to speak, is over; that momentum is no longer driving her forward, and that Trump has been elevated instead.” “The Daily” said host Sabrina Tavernis.
“That's true,” Cornell agreed. “The fact that there's not the same kind of enthusiasm now that there was when she first ran means she's come back a little bit to reality.”
Cohn said recent polling shows the public wants to know more about Harris and her policies. Harris continues to avoid formal press conferences and eschews regular interactions with the press..
“Polls are showing early indications that now that the enthusiasm has died down, the public wants to know a little more about Kamala Harris, but she hasn't provided that yet, and that's hurting her a bit among some key constituencies,” Corn said.
He explained that Harris inspires more among “traditional Democratic constituencies” including young people, black and Latino voters.
“In each case, our polling found that a significant share of voters feel they haven't yet learned enough about Kamala Harris. They have a lot to learn before they can feel comfortable with her.”
He added that while the poll doesn't necessarily indicate a “very serious problem” for Harris' campaign, it does “show that she has yet to gain support among key voting groups.”
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the American Teachers Union's 88th National Convention on July 25, 2024 in Houston, Texas. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
Tavanis said that while Harris has drawn support from some Democrats dissatisfied with Joe Biden, “for now, that hasn't been enough to overcome Trump's growing support among working-class white people and older voters.”
Cohn said Harris's lackluster approval ratings could be due to her not yet being successful in convincing voters that she will be an effective agent of change.
“What voters want is change — big change from Joe Biden. A majority of voters say the country is heading in the wrong direction. Voters are dissatisfied and, at this point, they're not convinced that Kamala Harris offers solutions to the problems they're concerned about.”
“So,” he added, “at this time when Americans are dissatisfied and want something different, Donald Trump seems to have a huge advantage over Kamala Harris in representing a major departure from the status quo.”
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Tavanis said the Harris team would be wise to distance itself as much as possible from Biden, but Cohn said polls show some voters not only think Harris is too similar to Biden, but also blame her for some of “what they think is wrong with the country right now.”
Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is embraced by U.S. President Joe Biden during a campaign event at IBEW Local 5 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 2, 2024. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
But Republicans shouldn't get too complacent: Younger, black and Latino voters are generally less engaged in politics than other demographics, Cohn said, and it's “quite possible that when these voters do tune in to TV — and many of them will — they're going to find that they like a lot of what Kamala Harris has to say.”
“What's interesting is that some key voters say they don't know much about her, but it's not that she hasn't expressed policy positions, but what this poll suggests is that they're not being communicated to people very well,” Tavanis said.
A Times/Siena poll released Sunday found Trump garnering the support of 48% of voters, compared with 47% who indicated support for Harris. The poll came after weeks of growing support for the Democratic nominee after Harris replaced Biden, but The New York Times argued that support for Trump appears “surprisingly resilient” to the surprising shift in the electoral landscape.
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The poll found that Harris has yet to convince voters of her vision for the country, with 28% of respondents saying they felt they needed to know more about her to win their support, compared to just 9% who expressed the same concern. About Trump.
But the poll results weren't all bad for Harris, with 91% of Democrats saying they were enthusiastic about voting, and 85% of Republicans saying the same.
Fox News' Michael Lee contributed to this report.
