As Democrats worry, Harris shifts strategy to highlight economic agenda in last push

While Democrats are frustrated that Vice President Kamala Harris has not effectively promoted her economic message, the Harris campaign has announced it will focus on economic issues in the final week of the campaign.

According to The Hill report, the campaign has defended its emphasis on abortion rights and critiques of Trump’s character, which have garnered more enthusiasm from voters, especially when supported by high-profile figures like Michelle Obama, Maggie Rogers, and Bruce Springsteen.

In recent weeks, Harris has concentrated on criticising Trump who maintains a significant advantage over her on economic front, which many voters consider their top concern.

Harris has seen her standing in the polls decline, as voters seem less swayed by further attacks on a figure whose flaws are already widely recognised after more than eight years in the public eye, added the report.

Some Democratic strategists favour Harris’s sharp criticisms of Trump as both necessary and effective. However, they also recognise that she could improve her focus on economic issues— a challenge that also troubled President Biden before he decided not to run for reelection.

“Where I don’t think she’s done a good enough job is (Trump) gets away with saying, ‘The economy is the worst it’s ever been, there’s more unemployment, inflation is the highest it’s ever been.’ None of that is true,” The Hill quoted Steve Jarding, a Democratic strategist, as saying.

“It’s almost like he lies so much you get tired of refuting it, and I think that’s a mistake,” Jarding said, referring to Trump’s ability to frame the Biden economy to voters.

The report quoted one major Democratic donor saying that Harris hasn’t properly made the case on the economy.

“Her economic message hasn’t broken through,” The Hill report quoted the donor as saying. “And the economy is the issue most people care about. She narrowed the gap a little on the issue, but she’s left a lot of people wondering about her vision,” added the donor.

Harris has proposed several initiatives to support middle-class families, including measures to combat price gouging, an expanded child tax credit, Medicare coverage for home care, tax exemptions for tipped income, and a $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.

While Harris has narrowed Trump’s lead on economic issues, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that 46 per cent of voters believe Trump has a better economic approach compared to 38 per cent for Harris. Moreover, 61 per cent of voters in battleground states feel the economy is on the “wrong track.”

Robert Reich, who served as secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, on Monday wrote that Harris’s message needs to “center on anti-elitist economics.”

“When all of [the polls] show the same thing — that Kamala Harris’s campaign stalled several weeks ago yet Trump’s continues to surge — it’s important to take the polls seriously,” The Hill quoted him as writing in an essay published on Substack.

“She needs to respond forcefully to the one issue that continues to be highest on the minds of most Americans: the economy,” he said.

A Democratic strategist agreed that Harris’s messaging on the economy “left a lot to be desired.”

“I still think there are folks out there who can’t tell you what she plans to do,” the strategist told The Hill.

“That should have been something our side hammered home every day,” he added.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a prominent progressive and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has urged Harris for months to talk more about bread-and-butter issues that he believes will move working-class voters.

“She has to start talking more to the needs of working-class people,” Sanders told The Associated Press, adding, “I wish this had taken place two months ago.”

“The truth of the matter is that there are a hell of a lot more working-class people who could vote for Kamala Harris than there are conservative Republicans,” he argued.

Future Forward, the largest super PAC for Democrats, warned in a memo that labeling Trump as a “fascist” isn’t swaying swing voters. They found that Harris’s fascist characterisation ranked in the 40th percentile for effectiveness, while her focus on expanding Medicare for elderly home care scored in the 95th percentile, reported The Hill.

The Harris campaign responded by emphasising economic issues for the final week of the race. During a recent trip to Michigan, she highlighted manufacturing and visited a semiconductor assembly line benefiting from a $325 million investment under the CHIPS Act.

Her campaign also launched a new ad in seven battleground states, promoting her plans to tackle corporate price gouging and cut taxes for middle-class families.

“You may not always agree with me, but I promise to lift up the middle class and be a president for all Americans,” The Hill Harris as saying in the ad.

A recent Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll shows Trump leading Harris on economic issues by 6 points, 50 per cent to 44 per cent.

However, an AP/NORC poll indicated that voters now trust Harris more than Trump on jobs and housing costs, with Harris leading 43 to 41 per cent on jobs and 42 to 37 per cent on housing. Trump, however, still leads Harris on grocery and gas costs, 42 to 40 per cent.

Democratic strategist Jarding emphasised that Harris’s attacks on Trump’s character and warnings about democracy’s threat are also crucial for persuading voters.

“Yes, she should put more energy and more rhetoric into the economic argument but … she has to expose Trump. Because he’s out saying she’s bad and he’s great,” The Hill quoted Jarding as saying.

“I think she needs to talk about the economy more … but I wouldn’t abandon the fascist argument against Trump,” he said, adding, “You want to find something that scares people about a candidate. A few thousand votes in four, five or six states could swing this election.”

He pointed out that Trump has invested considerable effort in scaring voters about Harris, warning them of criminals and terrorists crossing the US-Mexico border and alleging her support for taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for prison inmates.

Jonathan Kott, a Democratic strategist and former Senate aide, argued that Harris is making steady progress on economic issues, despite Trump’s continued advantage in polls.

“Kamala Harris is doing exactly what she needs to do. She’s giving her positive message for what she would do, which is her economic agenda, and she’s contrasting herself with Donald Trump,” The Hill quoted him as saying.

“What every campaign does at the end is they give voters a contrast, a choice. Kamala Harris is giving them a positive, forward-looking optimistic agenda for the country and then telling voters what the people who served with Donald Trump in his Cabinet and four-star generals have said about Donald Trump,” he added.

“Donald Trump has never in any battleground state been over 50-per cent and there’s a reason for that,” he said.

Kott acknowledged that Trump still leads on economic issues but noted, “Harris has significantly narrowed that gap since entering the race.”

With inputs from agencies

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