Vice President Kamala Harris looks to take momentum into DNC
On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, were on the road campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Her campaign heads into the DNC with momentum.
The latest CBS News Poll has Harris up three points on former president Donald Trump among likely voters nationwide, and the two tied in battleground states.
"She probably is hoping for a 3-4 point bounce from this convention," said Prof. Caroline Heldman, a political expert at Occidental College. "But, these conventions are sugar highs. You get a bounce because people are focused on your party – your party looks good for a week – I don't care what party it is or what candidate you have."
She believes Harris will try to hammer home her economic plans during the DNC.
"When it comes to the economy, Donald Trump is still ahead of her in terms of who voters think can best handle this," she said. "I would anticipate she will really hammer economics during the DNC. But she's also going to do a lot of vibing, right? This is a vibe campaign. I know that sounds diminutive, but really, it's about the idea that people want to feel good looking forward."
Also on the road in Pennsylvania this weekend, Trump ramped up his personal attacks against Harris – saying he is "a better looking person than Kamala," and saying, "Kamala went full communist," to the crowd of supporters.
Despite that, Heldman thinks Harris will stay the course with the tone she has exhibited since the start of her campaign.
"I think we saw something very illustrative at a recent campaign rally – at a Harris rally – where they started yelling lock him up. She said no, this isn't a Trump rally, we'll let the courts decide that. So, she is clearly taking a very different tone," she said. "It's going to play well to moderates who are kind of, sick and tired, of the number of years where we've had partisan division in this country."
The DNC begins Monday in Chicago.
