Kamala Harris has proven a trickier-than-expected target for Republicans trying to define the Democratic ticket ahead of November’s election, even as she and Joe Biden have recently seemed confused about which of them is leading the ticket.
The Californian Biden tapped as his running mate was once rated the most liberal senator — “She is even to the left of Socialist Bernie Sanders,” a Republican National Committee statement said last month — and Democratic primary voters quickly soured on her presidential campaign earlier this year. This would seem to be fertile ground for attack ads or opposition researchers.
Yet Harris, 55, remains above ground in her favorability ratings. A Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this month that showed 58% having a favorable impression of her, compared to 43% who did not, appears to be an outlier. But most recent polls show a plurality of respondents viewing the Democratic vice presidential nominee favorably, with the RealClearPolitics polling average showing her net favorability at nearly plus-5.
That’s not an overwhelming advantage, but it also shows Republicans have a long way to go in terms of making Harris a polarizing figure such as Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi. Nearly 50% view Vice President Mike Pence unfavorably in the RealClearPolitics average.
Biden recently mixed up their order on the ticket, referring to a “Harris-Biden administration” during a campaign stop in Florida on Tuesday. A day earlier, Harris mentioned a “Harris administration, together with Joe Biden as the president of the United States.” The gaffes could be an opportunity to reinforce one of President Trump’s main arguments against his opponent: that Biden is merely a frontman for a radicalized Democratic Party and will soon give way to a younger liberal such as Harris.
“From my experience, the VP nominee doesn’t translate to moving voters except for the typical bounce in polling from the announcement or to carry a key home state,” said Republican strategist Jon Gilmore. “Any characterization of Harris must be tied to Biden, or it will be ineffective.”
Biden’s age — he is 77 now and has a birthday not long after the election — makes Harris’s politics more significant than those of a typical vice presidential nominee. But Democrats caution against going negative against her.
“They tried to identify Joe Biden, and nothing stuck,” said Moe Vela, a former senior adviser to Biden. “The challenge is, if you’re going to use that tactic with Kamala Harris, if you are not careful as a Republican strategist, it could just be viewed as more evidence of the misogynistic Trump tendencies. They now not only have the challenge of how do you define her and what message are you putting out about her, but you also have to worry about it being viewed as another misogynistic or racist tactic.”
The Trump campaign and its surrogates haven’t ignored Harris. The RNC on Thursday highlighted reports that a Minnesota bail fund she has promoted had helped bail out a man accused of sexual assault of a minor. “Reminder: Biden and Harris would take this radicalism even further if elected. They have said they want to completely eliminate cash bail, which could put criminals right back on the streets,” said spokesman Steve Guest in a statement. “Bottom Line: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have to answer for why they supported a group that helped a man accused of sexually penetrating a child.”
“There is no question about it, Sen. Kamala Harris is the weaker link of the Biden-Harris ticket, and the Biden campaign recognizes it too,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell. “It is why Harris has been used sparingly on the campaign trail outside of Democrat strongholds. She has not shown a disciplined willingness to stick to the script and sing from the same hymnbook as Biden.”
O’Connell acknowledged Trump’s case against Harris got lost in the summer headlines and that there might not be enough time to define her for battleground state voters now.
“Instead, the Trump campaign is going to drive home their primary strengths — the economy and law and order, and if they can weave Kamala into that equation they will, particularly her command and control economic views, her sympathy for rioters — including attempts to bail them out of jail — and her claim that the lawlessness is ‘not gonna stop after Election Day,” he said. “When it comes to specifically defining Harris, the Trump campaign’s ace in the hole will be Mike Pence in the vice presidential debates, and his goal will be to highlight Biden’s incompetency for picking Harris in the first place.”
Harris’s fashion choices have broken through the news cycle. Her footwear during a trip to California to survey wildfire damage went viral on social media, and Yahoo Finance ran a story headlined “Kamala Harris may have made Timberland boots cool again.”
