shes winning in every battleground state![EEK! :eek2: :eek2:](/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif)
The Fight To Redefine the 2024 Race for President
August 14, 2024
Amy Walter
A new Cook Political Report
Swing State Project Survey conducted by BSG and GS Strategy Group shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading or tied with former President Donald Trump in all but one of the seven battleground states. Overall, she holds a narrow lead of 48% to 47% in those states in the head-to-head.
Harris has closed the gap with Trump since the last Swing State Project survey in
May, when Trump led President Joe Biden by three points overall, and was ahead or tied in every one of the seven swing states.
The one state where Trump still holds a slim lead is Nevada, though Harris has narrowed Trump’s margin by six points since May.
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Harris’ success in closing the gap is driven by her consolidation of the Democratic base, and increased support among independent voters.
In May, in the five-way horserace including third party candidates, just 82% of the voters who supported Biden in 2020 were committed to voting for him this fall. Harris is getting 91% of those voters. Among independent voters, Harris leads Trump 48% to 40% in the 2-way head-to-head. In May, Trump led Biden among independent voters by three points (41% to 38%).
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Trump, however, continues to hold an advantage over Harris on issues like the border and immigration (+14 points), getting inflation and the cost of living under control (+6) and dealing with crime and violence (+4). Undecided voters and third-party voters overwhelmingly say that they are more worried about Harris setting economic policy than they are about Trump setting immigration policy.
With partisans now equally engaged, the next 80 plus days will be a battle of inches centered on (re)defining the vice president’s image and defining the issues over which the presidential election will be fought.
The fight to define Kamala Harris
In many ways, Harris is unburdened by what has been.
She is the sitting incumbent, yet 56% of battleground state voters say she represents a chance to “turn the page of the Trump/Biden era” and 59% see her as representing a “new generation of leadership.” She may serve as Biden’s vice president, but she’s winning Biden-Trump “double haters” by 30 points (54% to 24%) in the head-to-head. Harris’ ability to quickly and decisively win over those double haters is a reminder that the 2020 Biden coalition was more anti-Trump than pro-Biden.
For much of her tenure in office, Harris’ favorable/unfavorable ratings matched those of Biden. In May, for example, Harris’ overall favorable ratings sat at -13, while Biden was at -15. Today, Harris’ overall favorable rating has improved by 13 points (49% favorable to 49% unfavorable), while Biden’s remained deeply underwater (43% to 56%). Trump’s overall rating was essentially static and currently stands at 47% favorable to 52% unfavorable.
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Voters were slightly more worried about Trump’s liabilities and weaknesses than they were about Harris’. Overall, 59% of battleground state voters were concerned that Trump’s second-term agenda was too focused on personal retribution, while 57% thought he was too erratic and out of control to govern effectively. A smaller percentage of voters — 53% — said they were concerned that Harris was too liberal to govern effectively, and 49% said she was “too unserious to govern the country effectively.”
She is even tied with Trump on topics where Trump has staked much of his candidacy like “makes you feel safer” (46% Harris to 45% Trump) and “enforcing the rule of law” (47% Harris to 46% Trump), and she leads Trump by four points on who voters believe would be a “smart president.”
“To me, the ‘feel safer’ number is the most notable in the poll,” said Patrick Toomey, partner at BSG. “In many ways, we saw that concerns about Biden’s age and mental acuity were preventing him from effectively leveraging issues that should work to Democrats’ advantage, like abortion and health care. Now, we’re seeing how concerns about Trump’s erratic temperament and fixation on retribution are preventing him from converting relative strength on immigration, crime, the economy and foreign policy into making people feel safer with him in charge.”
Voters remain pessimistic about inflation, but Harris isn't (yet) taking the blame.
Though the annual inflation rate has dropped significantly from its 2021 high, swing state voters do not feel it or believe it. Overall, 57% said they thought that inflation was getting worse, while just 25% thought it was improving.
Even so, Trump’s lead over Harris on the question of who’d best handle costs and inflation is just six points, a much smaller lead than one would expect given this deep level of economic pessimism.
Voters are also less worried about Harris setting economic policy than they are about Trump setting abortion policy. Overall, 49% of swing state voters said they were more worried about Harris setting economic policy, while 51% said Trump setting abortion policy made them more worried. This is a dramatic shift from how voters viewed this same forced choice between Trump and Biden. In May, 55% of voters were more worried about Biden setting economic policy, compared to 45% who said they were more concerned about Trump setting abortion policy.
In other words, voters’ disapproval of Biden’s handling of economic issues overwhelmed any other concerns they had about Trump. That’s not the case today with Harris at the top of the ticket.
Immigration is Trump’s strongest issue; Harris has a large advantage on the abortion issue.
Overall, Trump has a 14-point lead over Harris on who voters trust more to deal with border security, while Harris holds a 19-point lead on who voters trust to deal with the issue of abortion.
Voters were evenly divided about what worried them more, Harris setting border policy (50%) or Trump setting policy for abortion rights (50%). In May, they were more worried about Biden’s policy on the border (53%), than Trump’s potential abortion policy agenda (47%).
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“It’s remarkable that Harris escapes a significant amount (though certainly not all) of the economic pessimism surrounding the current administration, given that she’s a part of it,” said Lindsay Vermeyen, partner at BSG. “And, even though many expect her to shoulder more of the burden around perceived immigration issues, she’s even escaped some of that thus far too.”
The fight for the cross-pressured voters
For months, Trump enjoyed almost universal support among his base, while Biden was struggling to hold onto his 2020 voters. Harris has consolidated those former Biden voters, which has, in turn, leveled the political playing field.
That means that the fight this fall will be centered on winning over those voters who have not yet committed to either candidate. Some of them are conflicted about which candidate would best address their most salient issues. Others are not yet paying much attention to the contest. Another chunk is thinking of supporting RFK, Jr., but could be swayed to support one of the major party candidates. And, given the fact that RFK, Jr. will appear on only a handful of state ballots, many of those voters who are currently interested in supporting RFK, Jr. may not get the opportunity to do so.
Fewer voters chose RFK, Jr., And more came from Trump's base than Harris'.
In May, RFK, Jr. took 8% of the vote in a five-way contest, and 37% of his voters picked Biden in a two-way race, compared to just 33% who chose Trump.
Today, RFK, Jr.’s support has dropped to 5%, and 45% of RFK, Jr. voters said they’d vote for Trump in a two-way contest, compared to just 26% who said they’d support Harris.
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In fact, among the 17% of voters overall who say they like Trump’s policies, but dislike his leadership style, a significant chunk (13%) are leaning toward RFK Jr. In other words, the more that Trump’s erratic behavior is in the news, the more that Trump risks losing voters who he should be winning over on policy.
Undecided and third-party voters dislike Trump’s style but are more inflation-conscious than the overall electorate.
Overall, a small slice of the electorate — about 3-5% — is undecided about their choice in November. Yet, given the closeness of the contest, where these voters ultimately land is going to have a significant impact.
These voters are disproportionately female, younger and identify as moderate ideologically. While they are pro-choice, they are much more pessimistic about inflation than the overall electorate; 72% of undecided and 3rd party voters in the 2-way horserace think inflation is getting worse versus 57% of the overall electorate.
Harris’ greatest advantage with these voters is their deep dislike for Trump’s style and behavior.
Harris also benefits from the fact that more than half of undecided and 3rd party voters (56%) aren’t convinced that Harris would be a continuation of Biden’s presidency and his policies, and just a third (34%) of undecided and 3rd party voters see her as more liberal than Biden. Moreover, these voters are more worried about Trump’s temperament (59%), than they are worried that she lacks the qualifications and ability to do the job (41%).
However, they trust Trump more on the border and the economy and are more worried that Harris is not ready to do the job than they are concerned about Trump’s age.
“Despite his bad month, Trump can still win this election if he defines Harris as too liberal, too inexperienced, and a continuation of Biden on inflation, the cost-of-living, and immigration,” said Greg Strimple, President of GS Strategy Group. “But he must display message discipline and a willingness to abandon the bombast to be successful.”
In other words, to win over undecided and third-party voters, the Harris campaign needs to center this election around personality, while Trump needs the campaign to be centered on policy.