One of Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ top campaign advisers called the publicly available polls “horses***” just as her race with Donald Trump tightens.
David Plouffe, a senior adviser to the Harris-Walz campaign and a former adviser to Barack Obama, was adamant while speaking on the “God Save America” podcast that the presidential race is closer than some surveys indicate.
“I can’t speak to the public opinion polls. I spend very little time looking at them… most of them are horses***,” the quarterback admitted.
“Some of them may be close, but overall I would say any poll that shows Kamala Harris four to five points ahead in any of these seven states is ignoring them,” he said, referring to the critical battleground states.
“Any point that Donald Trump makes like that, ignore it.”
Former campaign manager and senior adviser to Barack Obama, David Plouffe (pictured), said public opinion polls showing a wide gap between Harris and Trump are ‘horses***’.
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A morning consultation questionnaire As of the first week of October, Kamala Harris had a five-point lead over Trump.
Also a Reuters/Ipsos poll as of the last week of September found support for the Democratic candidate with a six-point lead.
The RealClearPolitics national polling average currently shows Harris with just a 1.7-point lead over the 45th president.
Hosted by a series of former Obama staffers, the podcast features analysis and responses from a veritable cast of pundits and politicians on the left, giving them a candid platform to talk party politics and – of course – vent.
“This thing is very close; it’s a race margin, but again, I’d rather be us than him because I think we have the opportunity to get to 49.5 or 50,” Plouffe told Dan Pfieffer, another former Obama staffer.
“I have a lot more confidence in that than Donald Trump, but it will be close from start to finish, so I think we’re doing what we can to be conservative in the data.”
President Barack Obama, accompanied by adviser Anita Dunn, right, and senior White House adviser David Plouffe in 2012
S President Barack Obama greets senior advisor and former campaign manager David Plouffe (L) during a Democratic National Committee (DNC) event in Washington, DC, March 16, 2011
Former Obama senior adviser Dan Pfieffer (pictured) hosts the ‘Pod Save America’ show
“This thing is really close. It is a race with a margin of error,” Plouffe added.
Harris-Walz’s Democratic strategist and campaign adviser shared that internal data also points to a close race.
And that there is a certain segment of Republican voters who support Kamala this year.
“I think Kamala Harris can ultimately surprise with real Republicans or with independent Republicans,” Plouffe said.
“We see continued strength there, and that matters a lot, given how large those cohorts are.”
“But listen: I think it could be that our internal data is exactly right. But if I were to hazard a guess, I think this might underestimate her strength among Republican independents. So we won’t bank that, but let’s hope it’s true,” he added later.
Plouffe said Trump’s campaign is doing a good job in some respects
Trump’s “big challenge”, according to Plouffe, is that he is too dependent on finding new voters.
Still, he admitted, “When we look at the race, we give him credit for doing a good job there.”