Kellyanne Conway, a former senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, said Thursday there is a general “enthusiasm” that the Republican presidential nominee will beat Vice President Harris in the November election.
“There's enthusiasm on both sides,” Conway said in a live interview with Tim Alberta at the Atlantic Festival 2024 event. “Certainly, you know, there's renewed energy and enthusiasm for Kamala Harris.”
But Conway, a longtime Republican political consultant and former Trump campaign manager in 2016, said she predicted Trump would beat Harris, citing her relative position in battleground states likely to determine the election outcome.
“If the election were held today, I believe President Trump would win because he currently has an advantage over Vice President Harris in seven battleground states,” Conway said. “That gives President Trump a couple of different paths to get to that magic number of 270 votes, particularly in the battleground states.”
Conway suspects some of Harris' campaign energy comes from regaining ground lost when Biden was the presumptive nominee.
“Vice President Harris has won back many of the core Democratic voters that front-runner President Biden has struggled to capture over the last two months, maybe longer,” Conway said.
“So Harris is doing much better than Harris among young people, women, suburban men and women, a little better among African-Americans, but essentially the same among Hispanics and union households,” Conway continued, adding that now it's all about how well Harris' campaign does outreach in battleground states.
Conway also noted that much of Harris' energy comes from “moments” she has experienced, including the presidential debate, where pundits and polls all but predicted she would win, but said she doesn't think that will lead to her victory.
“I think it was a high-risk, high-reward prospect for VP Harris, even more so than President Trump, because it was her seventh or ninth presidential debate. We haven't really heard much from her, so I think it was a really important moment for her and she rose to the occasion in a lot of ways,” Conway said.
At the same time, she added, polls have not shown that voters have changed their minds since the debate, even though most voters say Harris won.
Conway called the debate one of a series of positive “moments” the Harris campaign has experienced since launching in July, and argued it would not have a major long-term impact on the race.
“Every month since Vice President Harris took office has been a big milestone. July is when she becomes the nominee, which is a big milestone. August is when we have the convention, which is a big milestone. September is when we have the debates,” she said.
“These things are won or lost on what you do during the big moments,” she added.
