07.31.2024 0

More Americans ‘Never’ Agree With Kamala Harris On Most Political Issues, So Conservatives Should Focus Exposing Her Radical Ideology

By Manzanita Miller

As predicted, beltway Democrats and their mouthpieces in the mainstream media are being swept away with Kamala Harris fever, delighted at last to have candidate who can string full sentences together. Democrats can finally expel a great sigh of relief that their offering for president isn’t Joe Biden.

After Biden’s withdrawal from the race and Harris’ rapid entry into the fray as the presumptive Democratic nominee, her approval rating began to rise, buoyed by deep pocketed special interests. According to the latest Wall Street Journal poll, Harris has erased most of former President Donald Trump’s lead over Biden, trailing Trump by just two percentage points.

The New York Times reported in their latest Times/Siena poll that Harris is trailing Trump by a single percentage point among likely voters. Harris has also enjoyed a bump in her approval rating among the public – from 36 percent in February to 46 percent late last week. 

Harris is also making up ground with traditionally Democratic groups that had been scaling back their support for Biden for well over a year – namely young voters and minorities. Keep in mind that for over a year now, Biden has polled around 20 to 30 percentage points below his 2020 exit poll numbers with these groups. Harris making up ground with these voters is notable, but it may take more than a small bounce to regain the support Biden lost.    

Is Harris more popular than Biden was a month ago? Arguably by a slim margin, but that could be short lived. The party is relieved to have replaced Biden, and the mainstream media is rallying around her. Polls conducted now are a snapshot in time during the Harris honeymoon period. However, poll after poll shows that on real issues, Americans largely disagree with and distrust Harris’ ideology and governing record.

This is a key finding that conservatives should not dismiss. Conservatives would do best to avoid the Harris campaign’s attempt to frame the election as one based on either personality or “prosecuting” the former president. The reality is a vast majority of the public favor Trump’s governing record on nearly every major political issue from the economy to immigration to Israel. However, there are large swathes of undecided voters still.

A new YouGov poll shows that a majority of Americans say they “never” agree with Kamala Harris on major political issues. Very few Americans say they “always” or “usually” agree with Harris on the issues, and sizeable shares of the country say they do not know.

Take the economy. The largest share of voters (27 percent) say they “never” agree with Harris on the economy, while 12 percent say they “rarely” agree with her on the economy. Only 12 percent of the public claim to “always” agree with Harris on the economy and 15 percent say they “usually” agree with her.

This combines to 39 percent of the country saying they “never” or “rarely” agree with Harris on the economy and 27 percent who say they “always” or “usually” agree with her. By a twelve-point margin, Americans do not agree with Harris on the economy.  

Immigration, an issue that has become increasingly critical to this election, perhaps even more so than it was in 2016, Harris’ numbers could not be worse. Thirty-two percent of the country “never” agrees with Harris on immigration while 10 percent rarely agree with her, indicating a full 42 percent of Americans disagree with Harris on the border. How many agree? Ten percent of Americans say they “always” agree with Harris on the border while 14 percent say they “usually” agree with her. This amounts to less than a quarter of the public (24 percent) saying they agree with Harris on the border. By an eighteen-point margin – 42 percent to 24 percent – Americans disagree with Harris on the border.   

How about on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Here, once again, Harris’ numbers are dismal. Thirty-two percent of Americans assert they “never” agree with Harris on Israel, while 10 percent say they rarely do, amounting to 42 percent of the country who disagree with her. A mere eight percent of the public agrees with Harris on Israel “always” while twelve percent agree with her “usually”. This means that by a twenty-two-point margin, Americans disagree with Harris on Israel.   

On every single issue except for abortion, the share of Americans who “always” agree with Harris is less than 15 percent. In contrast, on every single issue, the share of Americans who say they “always” agree with Trump exceeds 15 percent.

For instance, a full 34 percent of voters “always” agree with Trump on immigration, 29 percent “always” agree with Trump on the economy, 26 percent “always” agree with Trump on crime, 21 percent “always” agree with Trump on Israel, seventeen percent “always” agree with Trump on both Ukraine and the environment, and 15 percent “always” agree with Trump on abortion.  

Combining the share of Americans who “usually” or “always” agree with Trump on each issue, Former President Trump enjoys wide margins over Harris. On immigration, 45 percent of the country “always” or “usually” agree with Trump, giving him a twenty-one-point lead over Harris on immigration.  

On the economy, 43 percent of Americans “usually” or “always” agree with Trump, giving him a sixteen-point lead over Harris on the economy. 

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 35 percent of Americans “usually” or “always” side with Trump, giving him a fifteen-point lead over Harris on Israel.

On crime, 41 percent of Americans “usually” or “always” agree with Trump, giving him a fourteen-point lead over Harris on crime.

Even on the environment, Americans narrowly agree with Trump over Harris by a slim two-point margin, 34 percent to 32 percent.  

On one issue, a greater share of the American people agrees with Harris over Trump – abortion. Even then, there are strong dissenters. By eight points – 39 percent to 31 percent – Americans “usually” or “always” agree with Harris over Trump on abortion, but a full 28 percent say they never agree with Harris.   

It is safe to say that on many of the top issues facing the country, Americans who have their opinions made up already side more with Trump than Harris. That said, between 16 percent of the public – on abortion – and 28 percent of the public – on both crime and Israel – remain undecided about who they agree more with. This means that around a quarter of the public is persuadable on these key issues, and this is where Democrats will likely attempt to strike and portray Harris in a manner that is palatable to swing voters.  

Which groups are more likely to be represented among the persuadable? Young people, women, and minorities are ground zero for persuadable voters.  

For example, a full 30 percent of women compared to 15 percent of men “aren’t sure” if they align with Harris on immigration yet. Likewise, 28 percent of voters under 30 compared to 15 percent of voters over 65 “aren’t sure” if they align with Harris on immigration. And 29 percent of Black voters as well as 24 percent of Hispanics “aren’t sure” whether they align with Harris on immigration compared to 22 percent of whites. 

Conservatives can take heart that on nearly every political issue, the American people largely side with Trump over Harris as it stands now. However, they must not become complacent about that persuadable share of the public in the middle.  

Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.

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