Republican strategist Karl Rove said Tuesday that Vice President Harris' campaign is currently lagging behind both President Biden and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“On this day in 2020, the Real Clear Politics average had Joe Biden leading Donald Trump by 7.1 percentage points. And at this point in 2016, Hillary Clinton was ahead by 6.3 percentage points. As you all remember, the election was decided by a handful of votes in a handful of states,” he said on Fox News on Tuesday.
“And today, in the Real Clear Politics averages, Harris is leading Trump by 1.5 points in the RCP average and by 3.5 points in the FiveThirtyEight.com average. So, while she's ahead in both averages, she's nowhere near where Biden and Clinton were leading. And, as we all know, Clinton lost and Biden won by 42,000 votes in three states,” he continued.
Rove also noted that these are national averages, but that polling averages in battleground states could be more meaningful.
“But what are her approval ratings and his approval ratings in the battleground states, six or seven battleground states? We have some polls in some states, but we don't have six, seven, eight polls that would give us an average and give us a better idea of what's really going on,” he added.
Harris has surged in the polls since announcing her candidacy last month after Biden dropped out of the race. She has closed the gap on Trump in numerous national polls and has a slim lead in some.
The Hill/Decision Desk national polling average, based on 140 polls, shows Harris leading Trump by 4 points. Its latest election projections give her a 55% chance of beating Trump in November, up from Biden's 44% chance before he dropped out of the race on July 21.
