Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday accepted an invitation from CNN to debate former President Donald Trump on October 23, challenging her rival to another engagement on a public stage in the final weeks of the campaign.
I think the far left (if they’re going to vote) aren’t likely to be pushed away by more moderation from Harris. They’re already far more politically engaged than the vast majority of people. Meanwhile, there are a lot of apolitical people who dislike Trump, but just don’t want to vote and feel like they don’t know enough about Kamala to feel comfortable voting for her (my Catholic Republican mother, for example). I think that group probably has more people in it than the far left does, and more exposure to Kamala’s normalcy relative to Trump is a good thing for swaying them, given the shift in the polls following the last debate. I’ll always be disappointed when the Dems pivot right instead of left, but I think the logic is sound in this case.
I think the far left (if they’re going to vote) aren’t likely to be pushed away by more moderation from Harris. They’re already far more politically engaged than the vast majority of people. Meanwhile, there are a lot of apolitical people who dislike Trump, but just don’t want to vote and feel like they don’t know enough about Kamala to feel comfortable voting for her (my Catholic Republican mother, for example). I think that group probably has more people in it than the far left does, and more exposure to Kamala’s normalcy relative to Trump is a good thing for swaying them, given the shift in the polls following the last debate. I’ll always be disappointed when the Dems pivot right instead of left, but I think the logic is sound in this case.
Each of these swings out into right field are wedges that the right uses to drive people toward independent votes.