GOP pollster concedes economy is 'no longer' a 'unique Trump strength'
Republican strategists and insiders have insisted that former President Donald Trump, his campaign and his surrogates have to hammer Vice President Kamala Harris on the economy. But a GOP pollster now says Harris' team has managed to neutralize the attack — and called the issue "no longer this unique Trump strength."
Trump has attacked Harris and blamed her for causing runaway inflation, but Harris hit back in an interview with MSNBC this week, attacking her Republican rival as unserious on economic policies as she vowed to attract new investments in manufacturing. She has billed her vision as an "opportunity economy" and laid out a plan to help young families, first-time home buyers and older adults via $100 billion in tax breaks and financial incentives.
In doing so, her advisers say she's trying to flip the script.
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“This is not just a central challenge, but a challenge that is winnable,” David Plouffe, a senior Harris adviser who served as former President Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2012, told The New York Times in an interview.
By some metrics, the strategy appears to be working. Several polls show Trump's lead with voters on who they trust most on the economy has dwindled. Recent Quinnipiac University polls show Trump’s lead shrunk to two to four percentage points in the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the Times reported.
Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini said that while it's a "little far-fetched" for Harris' team to declare victory on the issue, her improvement has been significant.
“What they needed to do is get the economy to a draw, and arguably they’ve done that already,” Ruffini said. “It’s no longer this unique Trump strength.”