Vice President Kamala Harris stumbled while attempting to defend her economic plans on NBC News Tuesday after host Hallie Jackson questioned why they aren’t resonating with voters, especially as polls show they still favor former President Donald Trump on the issue.
Voters consistently cite their top concerns heading to the ballot box as the economy, inflation and immigration, with 54% trusting Trump on these issues compared to Harris’ 45%, according to an October Gallup poll. During the interview, Jackson pressed Harris on voter disapproval of the current economy, prompting the vice president to attempt to distinguish her plans from those of her current administration.
Despite Harris listing her policy platform ideas on housing, corporate price gouging and the child tax credit, Jackson pushed back on the vice president’s response, questioning why the platform isn’t resonating with voters.
“Then why do you think that’s not landing with voters?” Jackson asked. “Because in numbers it’s the opposite. Former President Trump leads you on this issue.
“Oh but I think it is,” Harris began. “Well, when I’m out — this is why I’m going out to Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and, and, and in Michigan,” Harris said simultaneously with Jackson. “Excuse me, just got in late this morning, actually.
Harris continued to emphasize that she will need to “earn the vote,” asserting that while she is focused on “working people,” Trump is concentrated on “billionaires and big corporations.”
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“But going to three states yesterday and I’m going to continue being on the road. I have to earn the vote and it means sharing with folks my plan, but also offering them what objective analysts have shown to be the contrast between me and Donald Trump,” Harris continued. “My plans are focused on working people, the middle class and what we must do to strengthen hard working people to be able to do what they dream and aspire to be able to do.”
“His plans are about giving tax cuts, massive tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations. His, so called, plan for the economy — economists have estimated will exacerbate inflation and invite a recession by the middle of next year. So there’s a huge difference between he and I,” Harris concluded.
Roughly two months before President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 race on July 21, an estimated 49% of voters surveyed in May believed the president’s guidance had negatively impacted the economy. While Harris has reportedly attempted to distance herself from Biden after entering the race, the vice president has struggled to separate herself from the current president.
During an Oct. 8 interview with ABC’s “The View,” Harris faced significant pushback from political pundits after stating that “not a thing” came to mind when asked if she would change anything about the past four years of the Biden administration. She was further challenged on the issue during her interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, fumbling her response when asked how her presidency would be moving the U.S. “forward,” despite currently being in office.
Featured Image Credit: The White House
