Democratic strategist James Carville on Thursday suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris stop attempting to persuade voters that the economy is doing well.
Former President Donald Trump holds a 13-point lead over Harris on who voters believe would manage the economy more effectively, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll published on Sept. 19.
Carville, on his “Politics War Room” podcast, advised Harris to shift her focus to highlighting the potential dangers of Trump’s economic policies, like tariffs, instead of running on her and President Joe Biden’s economic track record.
“There’s a way to do this and the way not to — and usually, you have perception economy, and most of the people that we know, and I think with some validity, say, ‘Look, this economy is a lot better than people think it is.’ All right, that’s frankly not going to work very well, because it takes a while for economic perceptions to change,” Carville said.
“Trump has given the Harris campaign a great gift. He has, on multiple occasions, said that you have nothing to lose. That is, whether you have nothing to lose or something to lose is a very, very different conversation as to whether you think the economy is good or bad.”
Carville asserted that the vast majority of economists would agree Trump’s tariffs and mass deportation policy “would destroy the American economy.”
“So, what Trump is saying, that … you’re living in Thanksgiving of 1929 and everything that you have is up in smoke, that is decidedly not true. And they should run a fear campaign on what he would do,” he added.
“And I want to go to these tariffs, because it’s a very important reason … Harris is only down four in Iowa. I think I know the reason: tariffs. Agrarian people do not like tariffs. They have had a horrible experience with them.”
Do you agree with Carville here?
The Biden-Harris administration in May chose to maintain Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, according to NPR. The administration also announced in May that it would impose significant increases on tariffs targeting imports of electric vehicles and other green energy technology from China.
Harris has repeatedly criticized Trump’s tariff policy, but Harris campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak told The New York Times she would “employ targeted and strategic tariffs to support American workers, strengthen our economy, and hold our adversaries accountable.”
The Democratic strategist suggested Harris visit Iowa economic venues and tell Americans, “‘You have a lot to lose, and the tariffs will make you and the whole country poorer, and it’ll do it quickly and efficiently’ … You have got to make him pay, and you’ve got to say, ‘You do have something to lose, and you will lose it so fast under his economic plan, you won’t see it.’”
“We no longer have to convince people that the economy is good. We only have to convince people that they have something to lose, which is a much easier job,” Carville said.
“And you don’t have a lot of time, and you got to get right to it … I think this is a very good opportunity. I hope they take advantage of it.”
Over 50 percent of voters perceive Trump’s presidential term was “a success” while just 37 percent view Biden’s tenure as successful, according to a Tuesday CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
CNN political commentator Scott Jennings said Wednesday it is a “major problem” for Harris to be part of the Biden administration when most voters view the president’s term as “a failure” thus far.
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