(DailyVantage.com) – CNN’s political data expert Harry Enten recently noted an intriguing shift in the 2024 election race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. According to Enten, while Harris currently remains more popular than Trump, her momentum has slowed, and Trump’s popularity has increased compared to where he stood during the 2016 and 2020 elections.
Enten highlighted that Trump, despite maintaining a net unfavorable rating of -9 points, is now more popular at this stage of the race than he was in 2020 or 2016. This shift presents a potential challenge for the Harris campaign. “If you believe that Donald Trump has somehow become less popular over time, let me change your mind about that,” Enten remarked. He underscored that Trump’s growing popularity, while still in negative territory, should raise concerns for Harris and her team, especially as it outpaces his favorability in previous campaigns, one of which resulted in a surprise victory in 2016.
Harris’s own favorability ratings, which rose after she secured the Democratic nomination, have recently declined. Enten pointed out that her favorability dropped from +1 in September to -1 in October, suggesting that her once-growing momentum has now stalled. “The momentum of Kamala Harris has stalled, and I think they feel like they have to change something,” Enten said, observing that the Harris campaign is likely grappling with the need to regain ground.
Enten further noted that being more popular than Trump may not be enough. He referenced how both Joe Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 had higher favorability ratings than Trump, yet Biden only narrowly won, and Clinton lost. This highlights the importance of Harris’s campaign focusing on more than just popularity as the 2024 election draws closer. According to Enten, “She’s still more popular than Trump, but being more popular isn’t enough.”
In light of these developments, Enten suggests that Harris will need to reassess her strategy and find ways to reignite the enthusiasm that propelled her rise earlier in the campaign.
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