With President-elect Donald Trump’s historic landslide win last week, analysts are now turning to what went wrong with Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. But it’s not hard to understand some of the key issues. Voters are not better off now than they were four years ago—inflation is crushing them and illegal immigration has gotten out of control. Harris tried to paint herself as a change candidate despite currently being in the White House, and then when given the opportunity to explain to Americans what she would have done differently than her boss, she couldn’t name a thing. But Harris made another major mistake: she focused too much on her opponent in an election where voters already know Trump. They wanted to hear a plan from Harris and she never delivered.
“We all know what Trump is,” Luntz told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on “This Week.” “We experienced him for four years. Whoever told her to focus on him committed political malpractice, because in the end, you cannot change someone’s point of view on him, it was all about her.”
Whoever told Kamala Harris to focus on Donald Trump “committed political malpractice,” pollster Frank Luntz says while sharing focus group insights post-election.
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 10, 2024
“In the end, you cannot change someone’s point of view on him. It was all about her.” https://t.co/yU4MQFhifU pic.twitter.com/Vhv9lFddsp
Kamala Harris lost this election when she pivoted to focus almost exclusively on attacking Donald Trump.
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) November 6, 2024
Voters already know everything there is about Trump – but they still wanted to know more about Harris’ plans for the first hour, first day, first month and first year of her… https://t.co/uCCl4WCykh
Luntz also spoke about the male vote, having done focus groups with them this cycle.
"[Trump] was their voice," he said.
“Men felt ignored, they felt forgotten and they felt like they didn’t even matter,” Luntz said on Sunday. “And in the end, the Democratic Party has to keep both of them. It is not enough to capture the women’s vote. These middle-class, middle-income, moderate men, I call it ‘M cubed,’ they’re the key to any election, and they felt betrayed by her."
