NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats had a successful convention this week in Chicago. At every turn, they sought to rebut their opponents’ attacks. The Harris-Walz team argued again and again — and particularly effectively, it seemed to me, in the vice president’s speech Thursday night — that they were for national unity, against ideology, for the middle class, for women, and above all, for the United States.
Even a casual observer couldn’t help but notice that there was very little in Vice President Harris’s speech that could constitute an agenda for America or even policy prescriptions. The strategists behind the Harris-Walz ticket understand that on some issues, they could very easily lose to former President Donald Trump. But in terms of life history, aspirations and symbolism, Democrats are far more likely to turn what was once a potential loss with Joe Biden at the head of the ticket into a potential victory with Kamala Harris.
The Democratic convention has been a high-energy, politically joyous affair this week, and Harris herself rose to the occasion Thursday night, giving voters across party lines and ideologies a sense that she was on board. with They and for them, in contrast to an aging and out-of-touch Donald Trump, who, by his account, specifically and primarily sided with billionaires.
KAMALA HARRIS FORMALLY ACCEPTS DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION IN NATIONAL VOTE CAMPAIGN
Both the vice president and her surrogates were steadfast. They set out to strike a patriotic tone and assure the electorate in strong terms that they would support our allies in Europe and Ukraine (and perhaps not Israel). Harris and her defenders made it abundantly clear that while they were championing and supporting the middle class, more importantly, their goal was to accentuate and exacerbate the gender gap by making this convention largely for and about women.
It seems clear that the Harris-Walz ticket will get a modest boost from the very well-produced and executed Democratic convention in Chicago. The vice president is likely to enter the fall campaign with a narrow but clear lead over former President Trump both nationally and, most likely, in most of the key states.
The election is ultimately a referendum on the incumbent president. The Sept. 10 debate between the vice president and the former president will see whether Harris can escape the stigmatization of the perceived failures of the current, now-fading president.
But make no mistake, it would be a mistake to believe that the four-day spectacle the Democrats were able to put on fundamentally changed or altered the overall direction of this race. For many people who were encouraged by the event, few saw or heard anything that fundamentally distinguished the Democratic ticket on the issues that matter most to American voters: inflation, the cost of living, immigration and crime. There was not enough substance on offer to create a meaningful contrast with former President Trump.
TRUMP CRITICIZES HARRIS AS PART OF THE SOCIAL STORM FOR THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT SHE “DID NOT MENTION” IN HER SPEECH AT THE CND
The convention opened with Joe Biden, the incumbent president, at or below 40 percent approval rating. Despite the success of the convention, Biden’s approval rating almost certainly did not budge at all this week. I say this because the election is ultimately a referendum on the incumbent president. We will see, in the September 10 debate between the vice president and the former president, whether Harris is able to escape stigmatization for the perceived failures of the current, now-fading president.
Despite what the national media is likely to say now, and with the inevitable surge in political support for the Democratic ticket following the convention, this election is likely to remain very close. Just as close as the previous presidential elections in 2016 and 2020 were.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS REVIEWS
We won’t have a clear idea of the direction the 2024 presidential campaign will take until polls are released after the Harris-Trump debate on September 10. But even then, it should be noted that Trump has always done much better in elections than in pre-election polls. What many in the liberal media may describe as the inevitability of Harris-Walz could well be, and is far more likely to be, a repeat of the last two national elections. In other words, after their convention, a victory for the Democrats is not assured. Instead, these elections will be very close.
The biggest question facing Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans now is whether they can successfully recalibrate the campaign to be as effective in its criticism of Vice President Harris as they were toward the current president.
Ultimately, our recent presidential election was decided by a difference of less than 100,000 votes. The same is likely to happen in 2024, even though the national media seems to have supported the Harris-Walz ticket and believes the current vice president will likely be elected president.
Both parties had successful conventions this summer. This week in Chicago, Harris was able to broadly address most, if not all, of her negative points: being too left-wing, polarizing, having no record, being soft on immigration and crime. It's clear she'll continue along these lines for the rest of the campaign.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The big question facing Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans now is whether they can successfully recalibrate the campaign so that their criticism of Vice President Harris is as effective as it was with the current president. That is the big unanswered question as we head toward the traditional Labor Day kickoff to the presidential election campaign.
In short: the politics of joy is not necessarily the politics of victory.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DOUG SCHOEN
