What a researcher is learning about voters' impressions of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris
BOSTON - With less than two months to go until Election Day, Boston-based market research expert Diane Hessan is looking at Americans' reactions to the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
"No one really wants to talk about what we have in common right now," said Hessan, whose long-running email conversations with more than 500 voters across the country are recounted and analyzed in her book "Our Common Ground."
But, she adds: "If you ask people about policy, ask the average American about immigration and what they would like to have happen and what the biggest issues are, 80% of them could agree on some kind of compromise solution or policy. But you know, the radicals are the ones who are screaming and yelling, so we have very inaccurate perceptions of the other side."
Hessan most recently sampled her survey group's reaction to the Sept. 10 debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
"Harris has two issues," she reported. "One is that people think she's too progressive, and the other is that people wonder whether she has the gravitas and the substance to be able to do the job. I have about 50 undecided voters in my group of 500 and I'd say five of them said [they were ready to vote for Harris], which is very, very significant. None of those undecideds flipped to Trump."
Large gender gap in race
Recent polls have shown an historically large gender gap in the race, women breaking for Harris, men backing Trump.
"I hear it from some demographics," says Hessan. Older, progressive women who lived through the women's movement will say things like, 'Can you believe he didn't even look at her during the entire debate?' But I've got plenty of women from swing states who are very supportive of Trump, so you can't just take it to the bank."
Hessan says it was "incredible" how many voters focused on the body language of the two candidates in the debate.
"People would talk about her facial expressions. I loved her facial expressions. I hated her facial expressions. Dozens of people talked about the handshake, about his posture, her tone of voice, etc. It's not just what people wear. It's whether they smirk, whether they laugh at the wrong time."
You can watch the entire interview in the video above.