This is an odd way to start a story about the forthcoming 2024 general election, but let’s go back to 2019 briefly, shall we?
That year saw a number of prolific Democrats vie for the 2020 presidential nomination (one which incumbent President Joe Biden eventually won) during the party’s primaries.
Each candidate (ranging from the insufferable Bernie Sanders to the now-enlightened Tulsi Gabbard) at the time tried their best to get to know and sell themselves to prospective voters, to varying degrees of success.
Generally accepted as one of the least successful primary bids from a serious (sorry, Beto O’Rourke, that doesn’t include you) contender? Why, none other than 2024 Democratic presidential candidate and vice president, Kamala Harris!
(Harris withdrew from the Democratic primaries before the Iowa caucuses, after some abysmal debate performances that included Gabbard absolutely ethering her.)
Fast forward five years, and a blistering Wall Street Journal report is calling out Harris for the fact that, just like in 2019, the electorate is actively souring on the incumbent vice president the more it gets to know her, particularly in comparison to her chief political rival, GOP presidential candidate and former president, Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump has opened a narrow lead in the presidential race, as voters have adopted a more positive view of his agenda and past performance and a more negative view of Kamala Harris,” the Journal reported Wednesday.
Now, that’s objectively good news for Trump, but as the Journal noted, Trump’s lead is “within the polls’ margins of error, meaning that either candidate could actually be ahead.”
Are you happy the Democrats made Kamala Harris their nominee?
Yes: 58% (7 Votes)
No: 42% (5 Votes)
Fine, even if it is a tie, that’s bad news for Harris — who’s only needed to campaign for a short period of time due to taking over for Biden in late July.
Beyond the truncated campaign period, Harris has also been steadfast in her refusal to do any actual media appearances until a blitzkrieg in recent weeks … on hard-hitting platforms like the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.
And if this Wall Street Journal polling is to be believed, it seems that media rush may actually be backfiring because — again, just like five years ago — it turns out that Harris just isn’t a very likable person the more you get to know her.
And that’s mainly because it’s virtually impossible to “know her,” given that her political beliefs seem to change with the wind, or whatever suits her political interests best in a given moment.
It’s all phony, processed and manicured, and it’s pretty evident now after two stabs at this that Harris does not have the personality or IQ to run on anything but vibes and lies (have you heard the one about Hitler’s generals yet?).
And that will only take you so far.
“The survey suggests that a barrage of negative advertising in the campaign and the performance of the candidates themselves have undermined some of the positive impressions of Harris that voters developed after she replaced President Biden as the presumed and then confirmed Democratic nominee,” the Journal reported.
The outlet added, “Views of Harris have turned more negative since August, when equal shares of voters viewed her favorably and unfavorably. Now, the unfavorable views are dominant by 8 percentage points, 53 percent to 45 percent.
“Moreover, voters give Harris her worst job rating as vice president in the three times the Journal has asked about it since July, with 42 percent approving and 54 percent disapproving of her performance.
“By contrast, views of Trump have turned rosier.”
It’s not a coincidence that, as voters have gotten to know Trump and Harris better, views are swinging into Trump’s favor.
Whatever one may think of the former president, it’s impossible to deny that what you see is what you get with Trump. He’s a fast-food loving, red-blooded, tough-talking, fight-loving New Yorker. Warts and all, there’s an authenticity to Trump that Harris simply does not have.
But even if Trump were as inauthentic as Harris, at least he’s cogent enough to relay his policies — which voters generally approve of.
“Moreover, voters give Trump a solid edge in most cases when asked about the candidates’ agendas and policies,” the report stated.
Look, this election is far from over. By hook or crook, this is shaping up to be a tight race come Nov. 5.
But one needn’t think back that far — at all — to start waxing nostalgic about simpler and better times.
One candidate knows how to connect with those longing voters and can deliver the message about those better times.
The other? Not so much.
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