A new national survey from Gallup offers encouraging signs for the Trump campaign while raising concerns for Kamala Harris’s team. Though the poll does not directly measure a head-to-head contest between the two, it does assess public perceptions of both major party nominees. Conducted over a two-week period, spanning the pre- and post-debate period, the survey reveals a significant decline in Harris’s favorability compared to her strong showing in August, when she enjoyed a surge of positive media attention. What’s notable is that as Harris’s ratings have dropped, Trump’s favorability has seen a corresponding uptick, suggesting more than just a fading “sugar high” for the vice president.
Trump’s favorability remains underwater at a net -7, but Harris fares worse with a net favorability of -10, having fallen eight points since August. Among independents, a crucial voter bloc, Harris’s unfavorable rating stands at a troubling 60 percent, placing her at a significant disadvantage compared to Trump, who is nine points underwater with the same group. The erosion in her support appears linked, in part, to dissatisfaction with her perceived lack of clarity on key issues. Some voters, including those who would normally be sympathetic, seem unconvinced by her shift from progressive stances to a more centrist message without offering substantive explanations for the change.
Republicans, and the Trump campaign in particular, have focused on Harris’s vulnerabilities, especially amid growing dissatisfaction with the administration’s performance and her flat out refusal to give any sort of specifics with how she will fix things.
The Hill recently reported that Vice President Harris “has avoided getting into the nitty-gritty of detailed policy positions as she seeks to win over centrist voters from former President Trump.
While the vice president has outlined a tax plan and has proposals to lower housing costs and to combat price gouging, she hasn’t gone into detail on plans to fix the immigration system, fight climate change, curb gun violence and expand access to health care….in general, Harris, who has come under pressure from Republicans to provide more information on her agenda, has not been too detailed. The vice president also has not done very many interviews, and when she has, she’s pivoted to general statements on policy.”
Focus groups have shown that voters have a great dissatisfaction with the way Harris has handled her campaign so far. In Philadelphia, for example, one group even went so far as to say they were angry with how the vice president speaks to voters.
