NBC News national political reporter Steve Kornacki said Tuesday that Republicans can take comfort in current poll numbers after comparing former President Donald Trump's performance in past presidential elections with projections.
Vice President Kamala Harris leads Trump nationally by 4 percentage points, but her approval rating did not increase after the Democratic National Convention in August. According to According to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday, Kornacki noted on “The Ana Cabrera Report” that despite his current trailing position in the polls, Trump remains the favorite in the Electoral College and outperformed polling projections in both 2016 and 2020. (Related: Trump has chipped away at key Democratic voters for years. Can Harris make up for lost time?)
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Steve Kornacki says Republicans can “find comfort” in Trump's poll position because he's used to running “from behind” pic.twitter.com/daxGd9QbA6
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 3, 2024
“Republicans can take solace in the fact that this isn't uncharted territory for Donald Trump. Look at the last two elections, 2020 and 2016, polls at this point after Labor Day and the start of the fall rush,” Kornacki told host Ana Cabrera. “In 2016, Hillary Clinton had an average lead of five points. Of course, Donald Trump won in 2016. And Joe Biden had an even bigger average lead as of Labor Day. Donald Trump didn't win that election, but he certainly came close in the Electoral College, Ana. So Trump has certainly run from behind before.”
According to the ABC News/Ipsos poll, Trump leads Harris by 8 percentage points among voters when it comes to who can handle the economy and inflation. Voters also trust him more than they do on immigration by 9 percentage points and the Israel-Hamas conflict by 7 percentage points.
When President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign on July 21, Trump was leading the president by 3.1 percentage points in head-to-head national races. According to RealClearPolitics poll average.
“The good news for Democrats, in addition to the fact that they're in the lead, is that things are better for them than they were before Harris became the nominee,” Kornacki said at the start of the show. “Joe Biden was trailing Donald Trump for almost the entire year, but that's changed and Harris is now leading by a few points.”
Journalist Peter Hamby warned comedian Bill Maher on Friday that a shift in support among young people to Trump could be fatal to Harris' presidential campaign.
“But this is a real problem for Kamala Harris,” Hamby said. “This could be fatal to her campaign… Democrats need 60 percent of the young vote to win the White House.”
“Hillary came up short, Obama got it done, Biden got it done. Kamala Harris is getting like 55% of the young vote right now,” he added. “If she doesn't vote until she's 60, she could lose the election because young men, Gen Z men, are going to Trump.”
Democratic strategist James Carville urged Harris in a New York Times opinion piece on Tuesday. Essay It will be a “clear and decisive break” with Biden on the policy agenda to defeat President Trump.
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