‘Conversation You’d Hear In First Class’: Axelrod Warns How Harris Pairing With Liz Cheney Could Hurt Her
Former President Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist David Axelrod warned on his podcast Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent appearances with former Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney could backfire due to how their conversations come across to the average voter.
Cheney kicked off a three-day tour with Harris on Monday in Michigan, urging Republican voters in the key battleground state to back Harris on issues like abortion. On “Hack on Tap,” Axelrod noted that while Harris seemed to be targeting ‘Never Trump’ Republicans with Cheney’s help, he questioned whether their events would resonate with voters concerned about the economy.
“The voters you’re talking about are high-information voters, and I think if they are motivated by this, they are already highly motivated, and I don’t know how much there’s left in that well. I think the voters who are mostly hanging out are younger voters, lower-information voters who are very much concerned about the economy — I think I said that earlier,” Axelrod said. “I think that the more populist arguments that she’s been making about the middle class and about, ‘I’m for you, he’s for him,’ I think maybe more motivational for those particular voters.”
“So I watched Liz Cheney, who — I agree with everything I heard last night. I watched one of the forums in Wisconsin with Liz Cheney … but I have to say someone texted me in the middle of it and said, ‘This sounds like a conversation you’d hear in first class.’ And I thought that was a pretty good observation, and it isn’t the people in first class who may be deciding this election. So that worries me a bit,” Axelrod added.
Axelrod continued by expressing a second concern, noting that voters may still have “questions” about Harris. He urged the campaign to adopt a more “contrast mode” between her and former President Donald Trump.
“The second thing that worries me is, I don’t think they’ve — I think that people have made a judgment about Donald Trump. If this is — if it were just an up-or-down referendum on Donald Trump, I don’t think he’d get elected, and he still butts up against his ceiling, which is under 50%,” Axelrod continued. “The questions they have are about her because she’s brand new, and they haven’t completely … so I would be more in the contrast mode between her and him. I’d give them a little more information about her, probably around middle-class economics and basically being a battler for them, and around abortion rights. I would be doing contrast, contrast, contrast.”
Voters have consistently ranked the economy, inflation, and immigration as their top concerns heading into November. After Harris was announced as the Democratic presidential nominee, she reportedly tried to distance herself from President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings were low due to his handling of these issues.
However, Harris faced criticism in early October when she failed to distinguish herself from Biden, telling ABC’s “The View” that “not a thing” came to mind when asked if she would change anything about the last four years of the Biden administration. Harris also stumbled during a Tuesday evening NBC interview, claiming her economic plan was resonating with voters, despite being confronted by the host about Trump leading on the issue.
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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].