Vice President Kamala Harris slipped up and admitted that she was shedding voters in a key demographic that could wind up costing her the election. Harris acknowledged that the campaign is struggling with male voters during a conversation with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, which was captured by a hot mic. The VP and Whitmer visited a bar in Kalamazoo on Sunday as the vice president continued her campaign in this critical swing state. Whitmer joked that the town should be renamed “Kamala-zoo” before the two took a seat at the bar.
“What are you having madam Vice President?” a reporter shouted after Harris and Whitmer sat down to enjoy pre-prepared beers. “I’m having what she’s having,” Harris answered with a cackle. As the two sat in the bar — surrounded by reporters — the vice president admitted that the campaign is struggling to attract male voters. “We need to move ground among men,” Harris said, drawing a “yeah” from the Michigan governor.
“Oh, we have microphones in here listening to everything; I didn’t realize that,” Harris then responded while motioning to the press pool she was speaking with just seconds earlier.“Well now you tell us… we just told all the family secrets… s**t,” Harris added before the two began cackling once more. “Anyways, it’s good to see you!” Harris motioned to Whitmer before wrapping up the ‘spontaneous’ chat.
According to a New York Times/Siena College poll released last week, Harris is facing significant challenges with young black men, a voter block that has traditionally been reliable for the Democratic Party. The poll indicates that Harris currently has the support of 78 percent of black voters, a notable drop from the 90 percent support President Biden received in 2020. The figure is also significantly lower than in 2016, when Hillary Clinton secured 92 percent of the black vote. Support for the Harris-Walz campaign among black men has dropped significantly, with only 70 percent of respondents indicating their support, down from 85 percent for President Biden in 2020.
MSNBC national political data correspondent Steve Kornacki reported last week that Harris’ popularity has significantly declined just weeks before the election. A recent CNBC poll shows Trump taking a national lead over Harris, with 48% to her 46% in October, after having trailed her in previous months, Kornacki stated on “Chris Jansing Reports.” Harris’s lead has diminished concurrently with a drop in her positive ratings since September, as her negative rating is now ten points higher than her positive rating.
“I think the bigger picture story, this suggests as well in our NBC poll, it asks about the basic perception of the two candidates here,” Kornacki said during a show segment. “Do you have a positive or negative feeling toward Trump, toward Harris and you can see right here, neither one of them has a greater positive than negative. They’re both not that popular. But Trump, you can see the gap here, 42% positive, he is 6 points underwater on this question. Harris, 39% positive, 49% negative, she’s ten points negative on this question.”
Harris maintained a favorable rating on the positive and negative scale during the early months of her campaign, but those numbers have since plummeted, Kornacki noted. He suggested that Harris’s drop in popularity is likely “linked” to her decline in the national polls. “And the significance here is the trajectory of the Harris campaign on this sort of feelings thermometer,” he said.
“When she first got in the race, she first entered, she basically was in the same ballpark as Trump on positive and negative, after about six weeks as a candidate, she had actually in our poll moved above water on this question, a couple weeks ago we were polling this and she had a higher positive than negative and she had established an advantage. But now, our NBC poll a couple weeks ago and now this CNBC poll both find that this advantage that she seemed to have established here back in September on this question, is gone and she’s back in that underwater territory with Trump again,” the data analyst continued.
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.