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Even CNN Called Out Kamala Pandering to Swing State Voters Over Israel-Hamas War

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 05, 2024 3:45 PM

As the 2024 presidential campaign comes to an end, it's worth reminding how Vice President Kamala Harris has been desperately trying to court voters on both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict. The duplicitous pandering has been so obvious that even CNN recently called out the different ads the Harris campaign has put out there depending on which voters she's trying to win over.

Last Friday, a CNN KFile investigation on "Erin Burnett OutFront" looked into Harris' "mixed messages" as she targets "crucial battleground voters with vastly different messages on Gaza and Israel."

An ad playing in Michigan includes an excerpt of Harris noting, "what has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating," adding, "we cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent."

In contrast, in Pennsylvania, where Harris is targeting Jewish voters, we're seeing "a very different story," Burnett notes. That ad played an excerpt from Harris' DNC speech back in August. "Let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7," Harris had said.

It's also worth reminding that Harris went on to bring up Gaza during that DNC speech, bringing about even more applause. 

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CNN's Andrew Kaczynski then came on, where he and Burnett discussed how the ads "obviously do sound starkly different to say the least."

What Kaczynski had to say next is really putting it politely when it comes to Harris' handling of this issue, in that "this really illustrates the sort of fine line that the Harris campaign is trying to walk here in the closing weeks closing days of this campaign on the issue of Israel here." He also added that "you have two entirely different constituencies and they are getting two entirely different messages."

The segment also then got to discussing how the Harris ad in Pennsylvania takes certain parts out, mentioning what else she had said during her DNC speech. 

Such details of the KFile investigation on Harris' duplicitous ads targeting voters on the Israel-Hamas war were also mentioned in live updates from CNN as well.

Earlier on Tuesday, Matt covered how Harris is doing particularly poorly with Dearborn voters in Michigan, with the mayor declining to give an endorsement last week. There was also supposed to be an interview published between Harris and a Muslim influencer, but it was held after the Democratic nominee experienced a total trainwreck, which included discussing bacon. 

It's not just that Harris is doing so poorly with Muslim voters, but also that former and potentially future President Donald Trump has been making a genuine effort to win over such voters, including in Michigan. Trump and his surrogates have also highlighted the closeness between the Harris-Walz campaign and the Cheneys, especially former Rep. Liz Cheney, and how much of an anathema they were to the Arab and Muslim populations views on peace in the Middle East. 

Trump also was a particularly pro-Israel president during his term, and promises to be for a second term as well, even earning the endorsement from former Democratic congressmen over his support for Israel. 

On Election Day, RealClearPolling shows Trump leading Harris by +0.4 in Pennsylvania, while Harris leads Trump by +0.5 in Michigan. Nate Silver's final forecast meanwhile shows Trump up by +0.1 in Pennsylvania, while Harris is up by +1.2 in Michigan. The polls in both of those states have been trending in Democrats' favor in both of those states, though it might still not be enough.