If you only started caring about politics since, oh say, July 21st, you probably have a very distorted view of Vice President Kamala Harris.
On that day, President Joe Biden unceremoniously bowed out of the 2024 presidential election, abruptly thrusting his VP to the forefront of the Democratic ticket.
In the scant few days since that switcheroo, Harris has enjoyed a seeming surge of popularity and momentum.
“She’s the hip, young, fresh new face on the block,” the establishment collectively clamored — largely based on internet memes and a British pop star’s viral endorsement.
As various outlets also noted, Harris enjoyed a substantial financial boost (powered by Hollywood elites), as well.
Trending:
The left’s most audible pundits on social media were giddy with Harris’ ascension:
Who’s the old candidate now? pic.twitter.com/u14A8EYU4t
— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) July 21, 2024
Trump is in Trouble.
A powerful woman is coming after him and that drives him nuts.
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) July 22, 2024
Is Kamala Harris a better candidate than Joe Biden?
Yes: 5% (5 Votes)
No: 95% (105 Votes)
See? Momentum.
About all that “momentum” … It’s clearly manufactured.
And that’s not coming from some bastion of conservatism. That’s coming from one of the left’s favorite arms in the establishment media.
CNN data guru Harry Enten took to social media on Wednesday to pour some cold water on all that “momentum” by pointing to a rather significant issue: All those internet memes aren’t actually resonating with younger voters.
Brat Summer or not, I looked into whether Harris has unique appeal to young voters. She doesn’t. She’s doing much worse against Trump than Biden did in 2020.
Moreover, young Democrats are NOT disproportionately more motivated to vote than other Democrats because of Biden’s exit pic.twitter.com/WpH5Sf4vPE
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) July 24, 2024
“Brat Summer or not, I looked into whether Harris has unique appeal to young voters,” Enten posted to social media.
He flatly stated: “She doesn’t.”
Much to the horror of Democrats, Enten then noted that with specific regard to young voters, Harris is actually doing worse than Biden.
“She’s doing much worse against Trump than Biden did in 2020,” Enten noted.
The CNN pundit continued: “Moreover, young Democrats are NOT disproportionately more motivated to vote than other Democrats because of Biden’s exit.”
In the actual clip shared by Enten, he bluntly described this manufactured momentum by saying: “This is not game-changing.”
While young voters are just one segment of the voting base, Harris isn’t exactly finding great news elsewhere.
Even general polling gives former President Donald Trump a strong leg-up on Harris going into the forthcoming November general election.
Real Clear Politics has Trump ahead of Harris by about 1.7 points as of this writing.
Now, it is worth noting that November elections aren’t decided in July. As Texas Sen. Ted Cruz warned, Harris is a different threat than Biden ever could be.
Just don’t buy the hype.
