No. of Recommendations: 3
So while I agree, with great regret, that it appears that a (slight?) majority of likely and potential voters have not concluded that Trump is manifestly unfit for office (and I do fault those citizens for their judgments in that regard), I do not agree that the Harris campaign should therefore emphasize economic messages instead. But neither should she downplay her economic priorities--and she hasn't.
I'm not saying either of those things either.
All I'm saying is that Harris has failed to effectively communicate what her economic agenda would be. Not that they've failed to emphasize it, but just to say what it is. I consume far too much political news, far more than the average voter, and I couldn't tell you what her main priorities are. I know what her positions are - she favors middle class tax relief, child tax relief, lowering drug prices and health care costs generally, increasing the housing stock generally, increasing the supply of subsidized/public housing specifically, targeted programs of economic relief for minority groups, student loan reform, and a host of other things. But I couldn't tell you which of those many things Harris feels particularly animated about getting done. Unlike, say, Obama with health care insurance reform, or Elizabeth Warren with banking/consumer regulation, or Trump with tariffs and protectionism.
It makes it harder for her, if voters don't know what her economic agenda is. Partially because voters care about the specifics of the candidates' plans (at least a little, and probably more than they should). But also because voters want to know that the candidate has goals, that they've got a plan in mind - that in their head they have a sense of the steps that they want to take to move forward. A mark of leadership generally is having goals and priorities and things that they want their Presidency to be about. It's a bad vibes thing when a voter doesn't know what a candidate's about - people don't like unknowns generally.
Voters don't trust the Democrats on the economy, and they really trust Democrats on abortion - so obviously a huge part of the closing argument should be to emphasize abortion. But voters care most about the economy, so you need to give them enough to convince them that you can lead on that point. That you have priorities. If everything's a priority, nothing is - not giving voters a clear sense of what her priorities are will end up carrying a cost for the campaign.
