Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign believes the vice president has more potential to expand her support than former President Trump.


What You Need To Know

  • Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign believes the vice president has more potential to expand her support than former President Trump

  • Harris campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote in a memo issued Wednesday that the campaign sees multiple pathways to securing the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election

  • The campaign chair said the “expanded universe of winnable voters is highly accessible” to Harris, in part, because they have supported Democrats in the past and many favor Democratic candidates in down-ballot races

  • O’Malley Dillon argued that because Trump “largely failed to win over new voters following the debate and the RNC convention,” he is unlikely to grow his support much by Election Day

Harris campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote in a memo issued Wednesday that the campaign sees multiple pathways to securing the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.

O’Malley Dillon added that while voters are familiar with Harris, the vice president is not as well known as Trump or President Joe Biden, giving her a higher ceiling. 

The campaign chair said the “expanded universe of winnable voters is highly accessible” to Harris, in part, because they have supported Democrats in the past and many favor Democratic candidates in down-ballot races. 

Citing an Economist-YouGov poll, O’Malley Dillon said about 7% of voters remain undecided and that they are disproportionately Black, Latino and under 30 years old — groups that have traditionally voted Democrat.

“It is the job of the Harris campaign to win these voters, but the pathway to do so is clear,” O’Malley Dillon wrote.

O’Malley Dillon pointed to polls that show Harris with significant advantages over Trump with Black, Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, women, and young voters — although Trump has made exponential gains since 2020 with Black voters, surveys have shown.

Among Latinos, Harris is more popular than Trump with undecided, independent and thirty-party voters, Harris’ campaign chair wrote, citing internal polling.

Voters the Harris campaign is targeting include those who did not vote for Biden in 2020 but supported Democrats in the 2022 congressional midterms, which were jolted by the Supreme Court ruling overturning the national right to abortion. 

White, college-educated voters and voters over age 65 were key then, and Harris’ favorability rating among those groups tops Trump’s by 19 and 18 points, respectively, O’Malley Dillon said, pointing to a Quinnipiac University survey.

“These voters supported Democrats in battleground states in 2022, and they will be critical to hold onto in 2024,” she said.

Meanwhile, O’Malley Dillon argued that because Trump “largely failed to win over new voters following the debate and the RNC convention,” he is unlikely to grow his support much by Election Day.

Harris’ campaign chair also claimed that Trump’s VP pick of Ohio Sen. JD Vance, whom she described as having far-right positions on abortion and democracy, will put key voters even further out of reach for Trump.

O’Malley Dillon said Harris’ entry into the race has been greeted by a wave of enthusiasm. The vice president’s first campaign rally Tuesday, in Milwaukee, drew around 3,500 people, more than any Biden event this election cycle. And since Sunday, the Harris campaign has raised $126 million and added more than 100,000 volunteers.

Harris will focus on the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada in the weeks to come, O’Malley Dillon said.

Ryan Chatelain - Digital Media Producer

Ryan Chatelain is a national news digital content producer for Spectrum News and is based in New York City. He has previously covered both news and sports for WFAN Sports Radio, CBS New York, Newsday, amNewYork and The Courier in his home state of Louisiana.