CNN Guest Warns Harris Campaign Is Falling Behind: 'Kamala Started This Campaign so Late'
Republican strategist and CNN guest Erin Perrine warned on Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris may encounter significant challenges on Election Day due to her campaign’s delay in shifting to a “get-out-the-vote” strategy.
Polls between Harris and former President Donald Trump have tightened over the past month, with political analysts cautioning that the race could be extremely close come November. During an appearance on “Erin Burnett OutFront,” CNN host Burnett questioned Perrine on how Trump might respond to former President Barack Obama’s criticisms.
“Well, it is likely to bother former President Trump, and you’ll probably hear some sort of response pushing back on what Barack Obama has said,” Perrine stated.
“But after that, Donald Trump will move on and talk about a variety of other issues. The concern for Democrats right now is that they need to pull out every Democrat available to conduct these get-out-the-vote efforts, as they are in a very precarious position.”
Perrine emphasized that Harris’ delayed start in her campaign has caused her to fall behind in messaging, noting that Obama is only now focusing on voter turnout at a rally in Arizona, with just under 20 days remaining before the election.
“Because Kamala started this campaign so late, they’re still focusing on persuasion messaging, which should have been wrapped up by now. They should be holding get-out-the-vote events like Obama is doing,” Perrine continued.
“They must believe they have a stronger foothold in Arizona if they’re concentrating on voter turnout there, unlike in other states where Harris is still engaging in more contentious interviews to push a persuasion message.”
“We’re what, two-and-a-half weeks away from Election Day, and they’re still working to convince voters? At this point, the focus should be on getting them to the polls, and this is going to be a challenge for Kamala,” Perrine concluded.
During his campaign efforts for Harris, Obama has been openly critical of Trump, questioning why voters would choose him over the vice president.
However, at one of his initial rallies for Harris in Pennsylvania, Obama faced criticism for addressing black male voters, remarking that they had not been turning out in the same numbers as they did during his own campaigns.
Currently, Trump holds a 0.8-point lead over Harris in seven key battleground states, with 48.3% support compared to Harris’ 47.5%, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.
Though Harris still holds a slight national lead in the polls, pollster Nate Silver released an updated election prediction model on Thursday, showing Trump with a small edge over Harris by more than half a percentage point.