In the closing argument, Harris appeals to a specific group of undecided voters

WASHINGTON ― Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is aimed at two different audiences who constitute a small portion of undecided voters who could tip the scales if the Democratic nominee ends the race with a warning about putting Donald Trump back in the White House.

Because Harris has stepped up her rhetoric against Trump − calling him a fascist − some Democratic allies they question the Trump-centric strategycalling it risky for Harris to focus solely on the character of the former president and GOP nominee.

Republican critics accuse the vice president abandoned “joy” as she prepared to deliver her “closing speech” at the Ellipse in Washington, the same place where Trump delivered his speech on January 6, 2021, before his supporters attacked the Capitol.

But in an election that is historically close in seven battleground states, the Democratic candidate’s final argument – that Trump is too dangerous to be put in power – is expected to appeal directly to the roughly 3% to 5% of the electorate whose minds are still undecided. That number could increase or change in the week before Election Day, according to a Harris campaign official.

One camp is “persuading voters to participate,” the official said. This includes young voters, voters of color and others who are inclined to vote for Harris but still need motivation. This group includes the so-called “poorly informed voters” who do not closely follow daily campaign news.

The second group consists of more engaged, traditional swing voters – suburban independents and Republican voters who may have supported Nikki Haley in the GOP presidential primary against Trump but do not share Harris’ views. Many of these people voted for Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections, largely because of the abortion issue after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Harris’ campaign chairwoman, said on a call with reporters Tuesday that presidential campaigns have traditionally focused solely on get-out-the-vote efforts so close to Election Day. But she said that beyond mobilization, Harris’ campaign remains persuasive.

“We know there is a real group of undecided voters that is receptive — and honestly, after this weekend — there may be new voters who will be willing to support us,” O’Malley Dillon said, referring to Trump’s campaign rally on Sunday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden received a bipartisan blow for racist tropes and vitriol.

“It’s largely people we’ve talked to all along,” O’Malley Dillon said of the two different camps. “And there’s no question that we think we have a chance to deprive Trump of his past support.”

Trump says Harris is running a ‘hate campaign’

USA TODAY/University of Suffolk national polltaken October 14–18, showed that 5% of the likely electorate were undecided in the race Harris had a narrow lead over Trump 45–44%. New York Times/Siena College Polltaken Oct. 20-23 showed Harris and Trump’s share of likely voters nationwide was 48%, with undecided voters at less than 4%.

As of November 5, more than 50 million people across the country have voted ahead of the November 5 election, according to tracking University of Florida Voting Lab.

Seven battleground states expected to decide the election – Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada – are estimated to be within 1 to 2 percentage points. to FiveThirtyEight’s average from recent polls.

Trump accused Harris of waging a “campaign of hate” while speaking to supporters at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, ahead of his Democratic rival’s speech at the Ellipse. Trump’s campaign ended with a closing message “Harris broke it, Trump will fix it.” trying to link Harris to Biden’s unpopularity and his poor ratings on managing the economy and immigration.

“He is waging a campaign of ‘immoralization,’ but really a campaign of destruction,” Trump said Tuesday morning. “But really, perhaps above all, it is a hate campaign. This is a campaign of absolute hatred.

Harris’ push to see Trump as dangerous comes at a time when favorability ratings for the former president are higher than when he ran for re-election in 2020 while leading the U.S. response to the Covid-19 pandemic. New York Times/Siena College Poll found that Trump is viewed favorably by 48% of likely voters and unfavorably by 50%. Trump was viewed favorably by 43% of voters and unfavorably by 54% in the last Times poll before the 2020 election.

Harris is expected to introduce Trump as Trump in her closing speech on Tuesday focused on himself and personal revenge − who would bring an “enemies list” to the White House − unlike Harris and her “to-do list” in terms of policy towards the American people.

The campaign said Harris would present herself as a “new generation of leaders” to pass a decade of Trump-dominated policies and discuss her various policy proposals aimed at improving housing affordability and spurring small business growth.

“This is not a presidential candidate who is thinking about how to make her life better,” Harris plans to say about Trump, according to excerpts from her speech provided by the campaign.

Harris faces questions about closure strategy

The Ellipse on the National Mall was chosen not only to evoke memories of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in which Trump supporters tried to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory. But against the backdrop of the White House, the location is intended to remind Americans of “the seriousness of this job,” O’Malley Dillon said, so they can imagine different approaches in the Oval Office.

“This speech is really intended to reach undecided voters, people who are making a decision to get through at a time when sometimes it’s difficult,” O’Malley Dillon said.

Some Democrats argued that Harris should make a more aggressive economic appeal in the final days of the campaign.”

“When she switched gears and began responding to Trump’s attacks on democracy, Harris’ campaign stalled.” Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, said a Tuesday column in The Guardian. “I think it’s because Americans continue to focus on the economy and want answers as to why they continue to struggle economically.” Reich urged Harris to link Americans’ continuing economic anxiety to the power of large corporations.

Harris was referring to recent comments by John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, who said Trump fits the description of a fascist and made admiring statements about Adolf Hitler.

But leaders of Future Forward, the leading super PAC supporting Harris’s presidential bid, expressed concerns that Harris would end her campaign by solely attacking Trump as a fascist.

In Future Forward’s email to fellow Democrats: The New York Times reported.the group wrote: “Purely negative attacks on Trump’s character are less effective than contrasting messages with positive details about Kamala Harris’s plans to meet the needs of ordinary Americans.”

Harris’ campaign pushes back against criticism of the strategy, arguing that the heightened warnings against Trump are crucial to the contrasting message to Harris.

“America, we know what Donald Trump means. More chaos. More divisions. And policies that help those at the top and harm everyone else,” Harris plans in her speech. “I propose a different path.”

Contact Joey Garrison on X, formerly on Twitter, @joeygarrison.