A new report suggests the Harris campaign’s new favorite line of attack against Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio may be taking hold.
Since former President Donald Trump selected Vance as his running mate last month, many Democrats have repeatedly attacked the Republican candidate as “weird” and “creepy.” “Weird” has been a buzzword used to attack Vance’s views on abortion and other controversial issues.
That talking point, repeated ad nauseam by Harris surrogates and members of the media, may prove effective for Democrats, according to a Friday analysis of Google search and polling data by CNN analyst Harry Enten.
He said Google searches for “weird” are up 32 percent in the past three days compared to three months ago and are increasingly related to searches for “MAGA,” “J.D. Vance” and “Republican Party.”
Republican Senator from Ohio and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance attends a walkthrough of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (Hannah Beyer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“This shows that it’s permeating the zeitgeist and that it’s a rare political attack that people are actually looking up online,” Enten said.
He linked the spike in online searches to a decline in Vance’s online favorability this week.
Vance already “made history” as the first vice presidential candidate to record a net negative favorability rating after a party convention, but his approval rating fell further this week.
His approval rating has fallen 8 to 9 points since a mid-July poll, according to Enten’s analysis of AP-NORC and ABC/Ipsos polls.
“The attacks against J.D. Vance seem to be working,” he said. “Obviously, one of the big attacks is the idea that he’s a weirdo, and we’ve definitely seen an uptick in searches of his name and other things related to the Republican Party.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has not held a press conference in 10 days since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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Enten said his drop in favorability likely crosses the “weird” line of attack, but it “definitely has an impact” nonetheless.
“You can see from the numbers here that people have a visceral dislike for him,” he said.
President Trump hit back at this line of attack in recent media interviews.
“They’re weird people,” Trump said. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show.”
“It’s all a short audio clip. And then the press picks it up. On the evening news, the word ‘weird’ comes up when everyone’s talking, and suddenly you find yourself talking about ‘weird.'”
Vance has faced intense media scrutiny after comments he made in 2021 about “childless, cat-loving women” within the Democratic Party resurfaced last week.
The vice presidential nominee defended his comments in a recent interview with Fox News’ Trey Gowdy.
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“If you look at what the left has done, they’ve fundamentally taken this out of context and, in fact, actively lied about what I said,” he said. “What I think is true, Trey, and this goes to the heart of what I was saying in that comment three years ago, but which I will continue to say, is that the left has become increasingly and explicitly anti-child, anti-family.”
