© Susan Walsh and Manuel Balce Ceneta, Associated Press |
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Vice President Harris is steaming toward the Democratic National Convention next week, surging in the polls and mapping out an ambitious battlegrounds tour as she prepares to unveil new policy proposals. - Harris had another stellar day of polling Wednesday, with The Cook Political Report (CPR) and Quinnipiac University finding her opening up a lead in Pennsylvania, the largest swing state.
- CPR found Harris leading in five of the seven battlegrounds after Trump led President Biden in six of those states in the previous survey.
Harris will look to build on her momentum with a post-convention bump next week. Up ahead... - Harris and Biden will discuss the economy in Maryland on Thursday, bolstered by the latest Consumer Price Index report, which found inflation cooling.
- Harris will target "price gouging" when she unveils her economic agenda in North Carolina on Friday.
- Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) will tour Pennsylvania by bus with their spouses beginning in Pittsburgh on Sunday, according to The New York Times.
- Harris's nominating convention is taking shape, with Biden, former President Obama, former President Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slated to speak in Chicago.
- Harris and Walz will hold a rally in Milwaukee ahead of Obama's convention speech.
But there are tricky spots ahead for Harris as she seeks to keep her momentum going. - The Hill's Niall Stanage reports that Harris's joint appearance with Biden raises questions about how closely she should embrace the sitting president, given his low approval ratings.
- Harris's first economic proposal to not tax tips puzzled Democrats, who panned the proposal after Trump first floated the idea.
- As Harris's economic policies take shape, she'll at some point have to answer for her 2020 primary positions. The latest: Harris's advisers told Fox News that she will not push "Medicare for all" after co-sponsoring the legislation in 2019.
- The news media is starting to ratchet up the pressure on Harris to conduct a press conference. CNN's Jim Acosta repeatedly pressed Harris spokesman Michael Tyler about it Wednesday. Tyler said Harris would conduct one news interview this month, but he declined to commit to a press conference. "A campaign rally is not a press conference," Acosta said.
Trump is taking the opposite campaign approach to Harris. He's keeping a light travel schedule at the moment and is instead banking on his ability to get national attention through press conferences and broadcasting conversations with allies. - Trump will deliver remarks on the economy today in North Carolina and he'll hold a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania.
- Trump will hold a press conference Thursday at his Bedminster, N.J., property. This follows Trump's two-and-a-half hour discussion with Elon Musk on X this week, and the 65-minute press conference he conducted from Mar-a-Lago last week.
Trump is trying to grab the national spotlight and put pressure on Harris to have more unscripted moments, although so far Harris's campaign has resisted the pressure. Republicans question whether Trump's freewheeling is the best strategy for his campaign. He's been able to focus on the economy and immigration at times, but he's also prone to extended deviations. On Wednesday, Trump once again fixated on crowd sizes while casting his ballot in the Florida primary. Trump was asked for evidence to support his claim that Harris had digitally altered the size of her crowds. "I can't say what was there, who was there. I can only tell you about ours. We have the biggest crowds ever in the history of politics." Trump's off-the-cuff musings have produced new attack ads for Democrats, such as when he told Musk that striking union workers should be fired on the spot. While leadership at national unions are generally hostile toward Trump, Republicans believe the former president has an opportunity to win over the rank-and-file union members if he can avoid missteps like that. Some Republicans, such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, are fed up with Trump's strategy. "The campaign is not going to win on crowd sizes. The campaign is not going to win talking about what race Harris is. It's not going to win talking about whether she's dumb. … I think the campaign needs to focus."
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Welcome to Evening Report! I'm Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what's coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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© Illustration / Courtney Jones; Andrew Harnik, Getty Images; and Adobe Stock |
Polling deep dive: Harris on the rise
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New national polls and surveys from the battleground states show Vice President Harris's rise continues unabated. The latest Monmouth University national survey finds Harris opening up a 5 point lead over Trump, putting them at 48-43. - The survey finds voters who disliked both former President Trump and President Biden are coalescing around Harris's campaign.
- Democratic enthusiasm is through the roof, jumping from 46 percent when Biden was in the race to 85 percent now. GOP enthusiasm remains steady at 71 percent.
- Pew Research shows a closer national race, with Harris at 46 percent, Trump at 45 and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 7.
A new top-shelf survey from The Cook Political Report (CPR) finds Harris leading in five of the seven battleground states, although the results are largely within the 4.7 to 4.9 percentage point margin of error. Biden had been tied or trailing Trump in every state. The top lines: - AZ: Harris +4
- GA: Tied
- MI: Harris +2
- NV: Trump +5
- NC: Harris +2
- PA: Harris +5
- WI: Harris +5
Some insights from CPR's Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Amy Walter: - Voters are pessimistic about inflation, but they don't blame Harris. "Despite her role as vice president, Kamala Harris is not currently burdened with President Joe Biden's unpopularity, and is seen by a majority of voters as offering a chance to turn the page of the Trump/Biden era' and representing a 'new generation of leadership'," Walter wrote.
- Trump has leads on the economy and immigration. However, undecided and third-party voters — who make up about 3 to 5 percent of the electorate — dislike his erratic behavior and style.
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© Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP |
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Election night roundup: Omar notches big win for progressives
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) coasted to victory in her Democratic primary on Tuesday night, giving the "squad" a much needed victory amid a tough cycle for progressives. Omar topped Democrat Don Samuels by about 16,000 votes, after barely squeezing by him in 2022 by about 2,500 votes. Notably, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which spent tens of millions of dollars to oust progressive Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.) and Cori Bush (Mo.) in their primaries, stayed out of the race. A few more notes from last night: - A new poll finds Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) trailing Republican Tim Sheehy by 6 points in the Montana Senate race. If Republicans pick-up Montana and West Virginia, where they're expected to win easily, they could regain a majority in the Senate.
- Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who is 85, experience a "mild" stroke Sunday night but is recovering and not experiencing any lingering symptoms.
- Republicans nominated former NBA player Royce White to take on Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). White had support from former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. He ousted centrist Republican Joe Fraser, a businessman.
- Republicans nominated businessman Eric Hovde to take on Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) in a key battleground Senate race.
- Wisconsin voters rejected GOP-led measures to curb Gov. Tony Evers's (D) spending powers.
- Democrats picked former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner as their nominee to succeed Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who passed away last month.
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"The mysterious case of the undecided vote," by John Halpin for The Liberal Patriot. "How to restore faith in the federal government," by Brian Darling for The Hill. "Has the Supreme Court made the Jan. 6 case against Trump impossible?," by Kimberly Wehle for The Hill. |
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5 days until the Democratic National Convention. 27 days until the first presidential debate between Trump and Harris. 83 days until the 2024 general election.
159 days until Inauguration Day 2025. |
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Wednesday - Trump delivers remarks on the economy in Asheville, N.C., at 4 p.m.
Thursday - Trump holds a press conference in Bedminster, N.J., at 4:30 p.m.
- Biden and Harris discuss the economy at an event in Prince George's County, Md.
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