DON’T GET COCKY: The New York Times Writes Eulogy for Kamala’s Momentum.
On top of that, despite Kamala branding her candidacy as a “new way forward,” Cohn says that Trump, not Kamala, is “seen as the change candidate in a nation that wants change.”
While President Biden’s departure from the race lifted the spirits of many Democrats, the national mood still isn’t great. An overwhelming majority of voters still say that the economy is poor and that the nation is heading in the wrong direction. And a clear majority — 61 percent — of voters say they want the next president to bring a “major change” from Mr. Biden, compared with 34 percent who want “minor change” and 3 percent who don’t want change.
In the poll, only 40% of likely voters view Kamala Harris as representing “change,” while 55% see her as offering “more of the same.” In contrast, 61% of voters perceive Donald Trump as representing “change,” with just 34% saying he embodies “more of the same.”
Cohn tries hard to give Democrats hope, but there’s no way to spin this poll as anything but bad news for Kamala Harris.
More from Jeffrey Blehar at NRO’s Corner: The New NYT/Siena Poll Hammers Home the Reality that Harris Is Running Out of Gas.
The most interesting number in the poll — the one that may tell the tale in November — came from NYT/Siena’s questions to likely voters: (1) Do you want a “major change” in this election? (2) Between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, which candidate “represented a major change” from Biden? On the first, over 60 percent said yes — a staggering number. And then in answer to question 2, only 25 percent of likely voters said Kamala Harris represented that change. Fifty-three percent said Trump did.
The ruse isn’t working. The media can try to continue selling Harris as a “fresh start,” but voters are smart enough not to buy it for a second — if for no other reason than that she utterly refuses to tell voters what she actually is for in any way they are allowed to query. Voters want change, and if the race remains where it is now, they are about get it in the strangest way possible: heading back to the future with Donald Trump.
If you want “major change,” why would you vote for the vice president who’s currently in power?
But yeah, don’t get cocky. As Glenn wrote in July, “If you’re not donating and volunteering to phone-bank and drive people to the polls, then you’re not in this race. No, commenting on blogs doesn’t count.”