WASHINGTON – This year's presidential election could come down to microscopic margins, so Kamala Harris is hunting for votes in even the most unlikely of places. One of her latest targets is Donald Trump 's demographic base — white people who didn't attend college.
“It’s tough turf," said Dan Kanninen, the Harris campaign’s battleground states director. "But showing up is how you peel away the votes that you need to win.”
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Kanninen and other members of the Democratic vice president's team point to what they believe are positive signals in public polls that Harris may be making small inroads. Such shifts are difficult to measure, particularly in polls where subgroups of voters can have wide margins of error.
But any erosion that does occur could be significant because white voters without a college degree make up a sizable share of the electorate. Around 4 in 10 voters fell into this category in 2020, according to AP VoteCast.
So the Harris campaign has been running advertisements on DraftKings, a sports betting website, that call Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the “strongest line up.” Another version on Yahoo Sports features “stats,” such as cutting taxes for the middle class and $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.
An advertisement on the video game website IGN presents Harris like a character in a role playing saga. Her rankings for “charisma” and “intelligence” are high, but “deception” and “collateral damager” are low. “Select this president," it says.
More advertisements have run during football games, highlighting Harris' promise to be a president for all Americans, and sports talk radio. Walz is a former high school football coach, so he's been making the rounds at sporting events as well.
Off the airwaves, Harris is relying heavily on labor unions to make the case to their members and communities. And she talks frequently about economic concerns like price gouging that she hopes will appeal to working class voters.
“People want somebody who is going to be on their side," Kanninen said.
Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, was doubtful that Harris was making any inroads with white working class voters. If anything, he said, her strategy was more a reflection of her flush finances.
“When you’re awash in money as apparently the Harris campaign is, you go after anything that’s remotely possible," he said.
Of course, Ayres said, "in a dead heat race, any voters you can squeeze from anywhere could be significant.”
Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, dismissed Harris' efforts.
“Kamala Harris is on defense because she is losing ground with long-time Democrat constituencies, like Black men," Kelly said.
Kanninen said the Harris campaign was undeterred.
“There have been tough conversations sometimes," he said. "But tough conversations can yield results, and in a very close race those results can be decisive.”