“Kamala Harris is the underdog, like she’s been saying all along,” said Democratic strategist Anthony Coley. “Many folks thought that language was just political posturing … But it was true when she first said it in July and true now three weeks out.”
Three Trump donors told Reuters in recent days that they were feeling increasingly confident about Trump’s chances, chalking the shift up to Americans’ focus on immigration and Trump’s flurry of recent rallies and events.
“I was on the phone with the campaign. They’re guardedly optimistic,” said one donor.
“We just need to win one of the blue wall states, it’s very doable,” he said, referring to Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which would give Trump the White House if he also wins Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina.
Asked about the close race on Wednesday, Harris said: “This is an election for president of the United States. It’s not supposed to be easy.”
MARGIN OF ERROR RACE
Nationally, Harris has comfortably won back the suburbs and middle class voters that had slipped to Trump in the final months of Biden’s campaign, Ipsos/Reuters polling shows.
But internal Harris campaign polls show her within the margin of error in each of the seven battleground states that will help determine the winner, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. In the latest batch, she is tied in Pennsylvania, up slightly in Wisconsin and down in Michigan, one source said.
Support from men of all races – where Harris’ numbers lag Biden’s – is a major weakness. The campaign’s strategy of aiming toward the centre and its failure to fully engage with local Democrats is another, some Democrats say.
Voter outreach in Michigan has been subpar, said Byron Nolen, mayor of Inkster, a Detroit suburb, and president of the local Democratic club. He said he had to ask the campaign for yard signs and other basic supplies for local voters.
“In my brain, they could have done Michigan better,” he said. “We’re still trying to get people excited.”
Harris’ focus on Republicans, even as she ignores some Democrats’ demands to differentiate herself from Biden’s policy of staunch support to Israel, is a concern for others.
