Harris Is Still Struggling to Blunt Trump’s Edge on the Economy
WASHINGTON—Some allies of Kamala Harris worry that the Democratic nominee has yet to seal the deal with voters as the presidential candidate who can best manage the economy, a task they say is crucial to building a durable lead in the battleground states.
The vice president has in short order lifted her party to a tie or slight advantage in opinion polls, and she delivered a strong performance against Donald Trump in their combative debate Tuesday. But Democratic and anti-Trump strategists say she also missed a chance to connect with voters over her economic plans and to chip away at Trump’s reputation for fostering a historically strong pre-Covid economy while he was president, which remains his most formidable asset as the Republican candidate.
“That is where Harris still has some work to do, which is to drive home the economic message, because she’s part of this administration that has lost credibility on economic issues,” said Evan Roth Smith, lead pollster at Blueprint, a Democratic polling initiative.
Despite releasing proposals to help consumers, parents, new home buyers and small businesses, Smith said, Harris hadn’t yet made her ideas credible enough to undecided voters, who “have real concerns in their life that aren’t being met by political leaders. That remains the No. 1 task for her campaign.”
Mike Murphy, a veteran Republican strategist who opposes Trump, agreed. “That’s the needle she’s got to move,” he said. “And she’s got to start working on it, because she didn’t really do it in the debate.”
Democrats hope that a recent run of good economic news could give them a boost. Reports this week that inflation continues to cool and that household incomes had risen to about pre-Covid levels could help Harris
answer a question from moderators that she ducked at the debate: Are Americans better off than they were four years ago?Polling shows that voters remain agitated about inflation, and that they see Trump as the better bet for taming prices. In Wall Street Journal polling late last month, 38% of voters said the cost of living was still rising and causing major strains for their families, a record high dating to late 2021. Trump was winning 71% of those voters. An additional 26% said rising costs were causing them minor financial strains.
Voters still up for grabs and available to either campaign were more likely than voters overall to say the economy and inflation were their top concerns. Reflecting on the overall economy, voters in the Journal poll said Trump would be a better economic manager than Harris by 8 points, a lead that stood at a lopsided 43 points among up-for-grabs voters.
James Carville, the longtime Democratic strategist, said the Federal Reserve’s likely decision next week to cut interest rates could help improve the public mood. Even if Harris can’t persuade Americans to feel good about the economy, he said, an interest-rate cut and other good economic news could help her argue that voters are making gains, and that those gains are at risk if Trump is elected.
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