Obama To Campaign For Harris In Battleground States
Former President Barack Obama is gearing up to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris in several key swing states as she struggles against former President Donald Trump in the polls.
Obama is set to kick off his support on Thursday with an event near Pittsburgh, signaling the start of a swing-state push leading up to Election Day, according to a senior campaign official who spoke anonymously about the schedule before it was officially announced.
Obama's participation was anticipated following his strong endorsement of Harris at the Democratic National Convention earlier this year. Politico noted that Harris was one of the earliest supporters of Obama during his 2008 presidential run.
“Kamala Harris is ready for the job,” Obama stated. “She’s spent her life fighting for people who need a voice and a champion. Kamala wasn’t born into privilege; she worked for everything she has, and she genuinely cares about the struggles of others.”
Obama is part of a roster of prominent politicians and celebrities rallying for Harris. On Thursday, Harris campaigned alongside former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, and her team announced that actress Jennifer Garner would join her on the trail in Arizona. Last month, celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller expressed their support for Harris during a live-streamed town hall.
“Harris and Obama have known each other since 2004, when they first met while he was campaigning for the Senate, and she was San Francisco’s district attorney,” Politico reported.
Obama’s campaign efforts for Harris come as her initial surge in favorable polling — often referred to as the “honeymoon period” — following President Joe Biden’s endorsement has waned.
CNN’s senior data reporter Harry Enten recently noted that Trump is polling better in key swing states compared to 2020. A New York Times/Siena College poll showed Trump leading Harris by 5 points in Arizona, 4 points in Georgia, and 3 points in North Carolina.
Enten emphasized that these numbers mark a “significantly better” performance for Trump than in 2020, hinting at a positive trend for him.
“There’s a lot of red on this screen, which is good news for Donald Trump,” Enten said. “Across these three crucial battleground states, two of which President Biden carried four years ago, we see Trump ahead by an average of 4 points — significantly better than his performance in 2020.”
Enten also pointed out Harris' narrow 2-point leads in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, underscoring the sharp contrast between the Sun Belt and Great Lakes regions. He attributed Trump’s stronger performance in the Sun Belt to an increase in support among non-white voters, with his backing from these groups rising from 16% in 2020 to 20% in 2024.
“If you understand the Sun Belt battleground states, they are more diverse than the Great Lakes battlegrounds,” Enten explained. “In the Southwest, there’s a larger Hispanic population, while in the Southeast, especially in North Carolina and Georgia, there’s a larger African American population than nationwide.”
Enten concluded by discussing what this means for the electoral map. “It’s as close as it can possibly be,” he remarked.
According to Enten’s electoral map analysis, Harris would win 276 to 262 if the Great Lakes states polling holds steady. However, given Trump’s history of outperforming polls in swing states in 2016 and 2020, he is expected to fare better than current numbers suggest in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.