A new focus group of skeptical Hispanic voters reveals the potential limits of Democratic enthusiasm with the rest of the gullible electorate after Vice President Kamala Harris rose to the top of the ticket.
Interviews with nine voters, mostly from states in the presidential race, who said they were dissatisfied with the nominees of both major parties, indicated a lack of familiarity with Harris. It raised genuine doubts about whether Harris meant what he said on the campaign trail, or whether the November election is a choice between, as one voter put it, the “devil we know” in former President Donald Trump and “the devil we don’t.” We know in Harris.”
Still, the dynamic gives Harris a potential opening, some insiders noted, as a new voice in a race that has been shaping up over the course of a year, a rematch between two of the most recognizable politicians in recent American history.
“A known fool is better than an unknown fool. Sorry, I’m over Trump, I think I can handle another four years of him. He’s not going to kill the whole nation in four years, he doesn’t have that power, and I just don’t know Harris well enough,” said Maddie C., 52, of Macon, Georgia, who endorsed Trump in 2020.
But Andreas O. Harris, 47, of Durham, North Carolina, who is backing President Joe Biden in 2020, said of Harris: “At least he’s competent. I have no doubts about his ability to run the government.”
The latest edition of the NBC News Deciders Focus Group, produced in collaboration Syracuse University and research firms Busy and SagoThe decision to replace Biden with Harris at the helm reveals that it fundamentally changed the debate over the Democratic ticket. In every previous focus group of dubious or undecided voters, the universal concern about Biden’s age disappeared. But in those sessions, it was replaced by voters using words like “ghost” and “hiding” and “unknown” to describe Harris.
Cecilia G., a 53-year-old Phoenix resident who voted for Biden in 2020, told Harris that skepticism influenced her vote compared to her familiarity with Trump. He said he would support Trump if he had to choose between the two major party candidates. But given more options, he chose progressive activist Cornel West, a significant change that he said became a joke with his family.
“I don’t know much about him, but I know what he’s been like under Trump. So I thought: Well, well, I’ve already dealt with a bad one, the “liberal version of how bad can it be,” he said.
Asked why Harris’ vote was not up for debate, Cecilia G. Harris, a California native with a criminal justice background, said she “doesn’t think the policies pursued by Harris as the state’s attorney general are in the best interest of the public.” ”
None of the nine voters said they watched most or all of the last Democratic convention, four said they watched some, and five said they watched none. Only one said they watched much of Harris’ speech — a very liberal voter who planned to abstain and who was deeply critical of Harris for supporting Israel in the administration’s war against Hamas.
“There’s a long-standing pattern of not-so-familiar vice presidents having to introduce themselves to America and reinvigorate the campaign dynamic when they accept their party’s presidential nomination,” he said. Busy President Rich Thau moderated the meetings. He added: “Vice presidents are rarely seen and even less heard of, so it’s no wonder that less informed, skeptical voters don’t know much about Kamala Harris. The challenge for him is to creatively penetrate the minds of voters who avoid the messages campaigners work so hard to convey.”
While a group of Latino voters may not be familiar with Harris, there are signs that some of his policy proposals have rubbed off. When asked recently what they had heard about each candidate, some of the participants noted policies on housing and prescription drug pricingas well as his decision to accept Trump’s plan eliminate federal taxes on tips — and positive and negative memes about Harris on social media.
While the lack of praise for Harris among some of these voters, even among critics of the Biden administration, was a turn-off for them, none of the voters suggested that Harris was responsible for much of it, good or bad. , this happened while he was vice president.
“You can’t blame him for being the silent partner,” said Maddie C. “Being vice president doesn’t buy you any muscle.”
Victor J., 59, of Bartonsville, Pennsylvania, who supports Biden and plans to vote for Harris.
“In all my years in this country, I don’t recall ever seeing a vice president do something or take credit for something,” he said, adding: “He’s a decorative figure. He is only there when the president is not here or when something happens to the president. The person who decides what to do is the president.”
Meanwhile, sentiment about Trump has largely mirrored what other polling panels have said about the former president since the focus group series began.
While supporters praise Trump’s business acumen and time in office, his critics, and even many who plan to endorse him in the fall, are deeply critical of his tone and approach. During the focus group word combinations, only one person responded positively to the mention of Trump, with sentiments such as “arrogant,” “narcissistic” and “problem” dominating responses.
“I don’t like his disrespect for people. Even if he has a good policy or a good idea about something, when he’s really rude to other people, it comes across as arrogance, because he doesn’t care who he’s talking to,” said Denise H., 55, who voted for Trump in 2020 and senior from Marietta, Georgia, who plans to vote again.
When asked to choose between Trump and Harris alone, five chose Trump, three chose Harris, and one said they would not vote. Given the additional options of independent and third-party candidates, only one moved: Cecilia G., who switched from Trump to West.
While Harris is more of a blank slate for those skeptical Latino voters, nearly everyone said Trump would be a bigger agent of change in a second term, regardless of their views on change.
Harris voter Andreas O. “I would say it’s a pretty big change to undo every meaningful aspect of our democratic principles.” “Change in the sense that being is a change.”
Cecilia Q., a voter who contrasted Trump with the West, said Trump “has the ability and the people in place to make the changes that need to happen as it relates to international relations. [relations] and economics.”
“For better or worse, he’s going to make changes,” he said.
But Maddie C., who said she would vote for Trump, had a different view of the change Trump could bring.
“Think about it, guys: He’s a convicted felon, right? But we still vote for him for the presidency. When the average criminal can’t pick up trash with a trash company because they have a criminal record,” he said.
“Open your eyes, that man is bringing a lot of change and it will be corrupt and ugly. I want to see it to believe it. Excuse me, I have to, I have to see what this idiot is doing.’
Abortion and immigration provide ample opportunities for Harris and Trump
The Trump and Harris campaigns have starkly different theories about what will motivate voters to support their respective parties, highlighting how conversations with skeptical Latino voters will resonate with some of those voters, including abortion rights and border security.
Take Denise H.: She initially said she supported Trump in 2020 and plans to do so again, but when asked about abortion, she called herself a “firm believer in a woman’s right to choose” and said it would have a big impact on her vote.
Asked how she reconciles her support for Trump with that reality, she admitted it’s a “struggle.”
“If you hadn’t brought up the issue of abortion, I might have stayed where I am now, but it’s a struggle for me,” she said. “I was in a city where there were huge demonstrations after Roe-Wade [was overturned]and they were very worried. I’ll be all over the place on this, but on the other hand, I don’t know what Kamala can do in four years.”
“I’m 100% conflicted,” Denise H. continued.
“I never think I have the right to tell someone what to do with their body, and I would,” said 2020 Biden voter Cecilia G., who said she would vote for either Trump or West. I don’t want anyone telling me what to do.”
“Our conversations with these skeptics show that the best way for Vice President Harris to win them over is to make women’s reproductive rights a top issue,” said Margaret Talev, director and partner at Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship in Washington. in a focus group project. “Otherwise, many who say they don’t really know what he stands for or what makes him different from President Biden have defaulted to former President Trump because they missed their pre-Covid personal finances or said he secured the border better.”
“But some Trump-leaning voters really split when it came to women’s autonomy over their bodies or the ability to make decisions with their doctors without government interference,” Talev said.
Even with voters planning to support Harris, there were limits to the issue’s focus. Victor C., who plans to vote Democratic, said he would support restrictions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Most of those who said they voted for Trump said they supported abortion restrictions.
Trump has convinced supporters of his signature issue on immigration, with Gloria L. and Yvonne J., both of whom echoed Trump’s concerns about illegal entry, an issue that has put him among Harris voters. inhuman approach to the border.
But again, Cecilia Q. describes the type of voter who feels caught in the middle, “torn” between two different approaches.
“Try to prevent the wall from being built or to work [undocumented] immigrants, it would be Trump,” he said, when asked who would do a better job on the border, “but in terms of being more compassionate, it would be Harris.”