Staff Reports
Vice President Kamala Harris may be riding high in some polls, but don’t pop the champagne just yet. The supposed surge of support for her isn’t a wave of voters abandoning former President Donald Trump; it’s more like a decadent dessert that’s mostly icing and no cake. Many of the individuals who are now giving her the nod were never serious Trump supporters to begin with. Instead, they were merely sitting on the fence, unsure about backing President Biden, and now they’ve decided to throw their hats in the Kamala ring.
As Harris struts into the Democratic National Convention, she is enjoying a modest bump in the polls, managing to take the lead over Trump in various national surveys. This is being painted as a shocking turn of events, but those in the know recognize that it’s little more than a few percentage points shifting among those voters who were hesitant about Biden. Her boost largely comes from those who were never going to support Trump, but were also hesitant to pledge allegiance to Biden. It’s as if they’ve decided to hold their noses and instead choose what they perceive as the lesser of two evils.
Who’s fueling Kamala Harris’ rise in the pollshttps://t.co/eSswj4iKrl pic.twitter.com/iJMNUFdzAH
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) August 19, 2024
Yet the media spins this as a pivotal moment in the race. Once viewed as Trump’s to lose, the election now appears to be a nail-biter, possibly leaning in Harris’s favor. The RealClearPolitics average has her leading by a slim 1.4 points, but let’s not forget that these numbers can be as reliable as a weather forecast in spring. Polling trends can change faster than a politician’s promise during election season.
A closer inspection reveals that Harris’s positives aren’t as impressive as they might seem. Recent data shows only minor shifts among key demographics, and the excitement around her isn’t quite the tidal wave the media would suggest. Fox News polling still holds Trump in a competitive position, maintaining a slight edge over Harris. Those in the know, especially vocal pollsters, confirm that despite the swirling media narrative, the fundamentals of the race haven’t changed much at all.
Furthermore, many of the state-level polls being cited could be tricky. Some surveys show Harris leading in traditionally competitive states like Arizona and North Carolina, but when the Trump campaign challenges these findings, they highlight potential polling biases that paint a skewed picture of voter sentiment. When state-specific polling is cross-referenced with how voters actually cast their ballots in 2020, the supposed Harris resurgence looks less compelling. Georgia, where Harris is said to be trailing significantly, nonetheless presents a clearer picture, showing where Trump remains stronger than ever.
At the end of the day, it’s essential to discern between a fleeting headline and reality. While the mainstream media sings Harris’s praises, deeper scrutiny reveals that much of it is just fluff. The race is still in the hands of voters in just a handful of crucial states, and at this point, calling it for Harris might be jumping the gun. Harris’s moment in the sun could quickly fade, leaving behind a familiar landscape where Trump keeps roaring back to reclaim his spotlight.
