Since the Democratic Party installed her as its presidential nominee, Kamala Harris’s campaign, and, to a lesser extent, the vice president herself, has tried to define Donald Trump as the extreme candidate in the race. It’s not working.

On the eve of the first showdown between Trump and Harris, the latest national poll by the New York Times and Sienna College confirmed that not only is the sugar high of brat summer over but that Harris has failed to cast herself as the moderate.