NATE SILVER: The mistakes of 2019 could cost Harris the election.

Harris’s articulation of highly progressive positions on immigration and health care have become a talking point for the Trump campaign and one where the facts are mostly on their side. Harris has flip-flopped on some of these positions, like on Medicare for All and decriminalizing border crossings. Still, you’ll probably see clips like the one above in heavy rotation in Republican attack ads.

The flip-flopping may explain why Harris has been weirdly reluctant to do media hits or articulate policy specifics. This strategy may have worked well enough when she was riding high off the vibes of the Democrats’ candidate swap, but it’s causing her more problems now.

This morning’s NYT/Siena poll contained a pair of questions on whether voters think Harris is too liberal/progressive3 and whether Trump is too conservative. The numbers were lopsided in Trump’s favor. Only 32 percent of voters said Trump was too conservative, while 47 said Harris was too liberal. The demographics on this question are about what you might expect. Harris is faring poorly among white voters without college degrees, rural voters, and older voters: the types of voters who are plentiful in Blue Wall states like Pennsylvania.

I’m not a messaging-and-tactics guy like Dan Pfieffer, but I’m not quite sure how Harris is supposed to spin her way out of this perception.

Related:

She has the same problem Biden had but for different reasons and they know it, which is they have to put her out there more, but can't put her out there more https://t.co/loP2XbF6rd

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 8, 2024

Harris tried staying hard-left early on and, when that didn’t work, tacked hard to the center with flip-flops on almost every issue she supposedly held dear.

Progressive Democrats know it’s a ruse and will stick with her. But, dear Lord, the woman doesn’t even come across as convincing on those rare occasions when she tells the truth.