Subject: Re: Plausible Deniability on Gaza Genocide?
It's important to remember that Harris is also losing to Trump in the polls. She has favorability ratings almost as bad as Biden.

No it’s important to remember that her image is a mile wide (she’s the VP) and an inch deep, because nobody really knows anything about her. The polls are entirely meaningless at the moment. They will continue to be meaningless for at least two weeks, until she outlines some policy, makes a terrible gaffe, or endorses Communism as a reasonable alternative to what we have.

Polls only measure what people know, not what they think they know about something they don’t know. There is a segment of the electorate that knows enough to have an opinion, but it’s a tiny sliver. Give it time.

Harris faces many of the same problems that Biden faced - voters prefer Trump on the economy and the border, and those are two very salient issues this campaign cycle.

That’s the nice thing about coming in with a clean slate. You can disavow the past even if you can’t escape it entirely. She has the opportunity (no guarantee) to finesse both issues, although I doubt she will manage both. On the border, (if I was her) I would blame Republicans. “We tried to make changes, but any bills we put forward, even with bi-partisan support, were torpedoed because Donald Trump told Republicans to do it. He put his campaign first, not the country.” That would have to be hammered home many times in many venues and by many people, but eventually that storyline could blunt the attacks.

As for the economy, 100 days is a short time, but a Fed interest rate drop and continuing headlines about stock-market highs will help. People at the bottom of the economic ladder won’t be swayed, they see what’s left in the change purse at the end of the shopping trip, but for others, again it can be blunted.

Meanwhile, *women*. Donald Trump’s USSC picks destroyed Roe and the Republicans (including 2025) threaten even birth control via the Comstock Act. That might not be such a big deal for MAGA men, but I’ll wager it will go a long way with women.

Meanwhile you energize the black vote (again), you bring in the youth vote (Taylor Swift will help) and you get a reasonable majority share of women. This is not out of reach, but is still probably slightly less likely than likely. But it’s a whole lot MORE likely than it was 48 hours ago.