Kamala Harris’s team is “nervous” ahead of her showdown with Donald Trump, according to sources close to her campaign.
Insiders, including a campaign strategist, are said to have raised their concerns with BBC special correspondent Katty Kay in a series of panicked text messages and phone calls.
“I find myself getting quite nervous about the state of the race, by the way,” Kay said during an episode of the podcast The Rest is Politics: US.
“I get a lot of Democrats texting me, I had a long conversation with a strategist yesterday and I can tell you a little bit about it. But I’m getting a lot of nervousness from some Democrats.”
Meanwhile, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci indicated he believes Harris’ campaign is stalling.
Kamala Harris’ team is ‘nervous’ about her showdown with Donald Trump, sources close to her campaign say
A recent New York Times poll showed Trump with a narrow lead two days before their first presidential debate.
“The issue for the vice presidential campaign is where is the campaign? Yes, she’s going to rallies, yes, she’s talking trash at rallies,” Scaramucci said.
‘But there is another element to the campaign: the softer element and the confrontational element.’
He explained that while Harris excelled in the “softer” situations, such as meetings and interactions with the public, there is a need to see her in more heated situations.
“The general public will say, ‘Can a race be won with an autocue?’ and ‘Can a race in the United States be won by making press appearances?’ I don’t know if that’s the case and it also creates a lot of confusion around policy,” he added.
Chris Cilizza, a former political reporter for the left-leaning CNN, agreed, saying Harris might be afraid of her lack of experience with presidential debates.
“I think she’ll probably be a little more nervous,” he said Medialite.
“I think it depends more on it. Trump has a very high floor in terms of voter support and a very low ceiling.
‘He’s basically moving between 46 and 48 percent of the vote. He’s not going to 52 or 51.
Commentators have pointed out that Trump’s previous experience in presidential debates is an advantage over Harris
“He’s not going to 40. So I don’t know how his numbers are going to develop. I think she’s got more potential there. I don’t think she’s going to mess it up.”
Harris is holed up in a Pittsburgh hotel in preparation for next week’s showdown in Philadelphia.
Insiders told the New York Times that she had enlisted the help of a Trump stand-in, complete with signature suit and tie, to practice her debate tactics.
Meanwhile, Trump would hold more ad hoc “policy sessions” to refresh his memory of his record while in office.
With just two months to go until Election Day, Harris and Trump enter the final stretch with a negligible lead in the polls.
But despite the small difference, the results show a shift toward the former president after Harris entered the race in late July.
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Harris needs to show her confrontational side more
With just two days until the first presidential debate, a New York Times/Siena College poll shows Trump ahead of the vice president by 1 point — 48 percent to 47 percent — within the poll’s 3-point margin of error.
The latest poll was conducted Sept. 3-6 and is largely unchanged from the same national poll of likely voters conducted in late July, after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and endorsed No. 2.
Interestingly, polls indicate that despite Harris’ “honeymoon phase,” support for Trump’s candidacy for a second, non-consecutive term in the White House remains strong.