Tipsheet

New NBC News Poll Shows Why Dems Wanted to Keep Kamala Away From the Cameras

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  October 14, 2024 6:30 AM

Kamala Harris’ media tour was a nightmare. It got torpedoed by two natural disasters, Joe Biden soaking up her media time and coming off (again) as just an all-around awkward person. Her town hall on Univision was exposed as a fraud, with the event packed with audience members who were Kamala supporters despite the event being marketed as an undecided voter forum. Without a script, Kamala can’t maneuver or act normal. Voters aren’t stupid—she hasn’t said a single thing of substance regarding the inflation rate that’s been killing working families. No one cares about protecting democracy if you're struggling to keep the lights on, and the vice president has yet to articulate a compelling statement about how she’d be different than Joe Biden. 

The flip side is that she must go on camera as a major candidate, especially in the final weeks. What has come of that tour is a nightmare for Democrats, already nervous that their $1 billion war chest couldn’t break away from Donald Trump. NBC News had Harris up five points over Trump in September. It’s now tied [emphasis mine]: 

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are deadlocked in the latest national NBC News poll, with Trump bolstered by Republicans coming back home to support him after last month’s rough debate and a subsequent polling deficit, as well as by a favorable voter assessment of Trump’s term as president. 

These are among the findings of a new survey released three weeks before Election Day, which also shows Harris’ popularity declining compared to a month ago, after she got a big summertime boost; a massive gender gap between support for Harris and Trump… 

[…] 

“As summer has turned to fall, any signs of momentum for Kamala Harris have stopped,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. “The race is a dead heat.” 

[…] 

In the new poll — which was conducted Oct. 4-8 — Harris gets support from 48% of registered voters in a head-to-head matchup, while Trump gets an identical 48%. Another 4% say they are undecided or wouldn’t vote for either option when forced to choose between those two major-party candidates. 

That’s a change from September’s NBC News poll, which found Harris leading Trump by 5 points, 49%-44%, though that result was within the margin of error. 

An expanded ballot including third-party candidates also shows this shift, with 47% of registered voters in the new poll picking Trump, 46% supporting Harris and a combined 7% picking other candidates or saying they’re undecided. 

We know why her camp was trying to keep her indoors. Kamala was untested, but her disastrous 2020 run was tea leaves enough: she cannot handle the job. It’s why she and Joe were so destructive; both weren’t made of presidential timber. Nothing Democrats are saying is working. 

The “Brat” war cry flopped. Now, she’s trying to appeal to men, working-class voters, and Hispanics and trying to gin up an economic message that isn’t nonsensical—there isn’t enough time. It’s too late, and she lacks the intelligence.

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