Election Day is just two weeks away, and Vice President Kamala Harris’ top advisors are beginning to think a large swath of Americans are on the wrong track, according to a new CNN report.
They also believe that in two weeks, Donald Trump will continue making references to the “enemy within” or describing January 6 as a “day of love,” while also going off on tangents, like his crude remarks about golf legend Arnold Palmer at a Pennsylvania rally last week. They believe they can provoke him into making more outlandish statements.
According to a dozen top aides and outside allies who spoke with CNN, shifting Americans’ attention to these issues over the next two weeks—portraying a second Trump term as a path that takes the country further off course and positioning Harris as a viable alternative for change—will be key in deciding the presidency. Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon emphasized this to top donors during a retreat in Philadelphia last week, stating that while many may find it hard to believe, the race remains tight in key battleground states where the election will be determined.
“Historically, it would be unusual to have seven states come down to a point or less,” David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager who now serves as a senior adviser to Harris, told CNN. “But I think at this point, you have to assume that’s a distinct possibility.”
Plouffe and other Harris advisers are doubtful that Trump’s largely outsourced door-knocking and on-the-ground outreach efforts can compete with the extensive operations that national Democrats and the Harris campaign—benefiting from much of the team inherited from President Joe Biden—spent a year building. However, they recognize that this advantage has its limits.
“Democrats wish Donald Trump wouldn’t get more than 46% of the vote,” Plouffe said, but in swing states, “that’s not reality. He’s going to get up to 48% in all of these states. And so we just have to make sure we’re hitting our win number, which depending on the state, could be 50, could be 49.5.”
Plouffe and Harris’s advisers are skeptical that Trump’s outsourced door-knocking efforts and ground operations can rival the extensive campaign infrastructure that national Democrats and the Harris team—many of whom worked with President Biden—have spent the past year developing. Still, they acknowledge that this advantage can only go so far.
“I’m confident that we’re being conservative in how we view this race,” Plouffe said, “so that we are more likely to be surprised on the upside by things.”
