What happens when Harris faces a large-scale highly funded opposition campaign that launches relentless daily attacks on her? Most voters don’t know much about Harris’ record. Trump’s negatives, on the other hand, are already baked into the polls. What is Kamala going to say about the former president that Biden hasn’t? Once you accuse your opponent of being Hitler, there really isn’t much space to ratchet up the rhetoric.

Besides, what will Harris’s case for the presidency be? Won’t she be compelled to run on Biden’s record? Sure, a change would shift the coverage away from Biden’s fragility. But before the media begins writing revisionist histories about the past four years, let’s not forget the administration’s policies were unpopular before everyone acknowledged the president’s declining mental state. Biden was lagging behind Trump on issues that matter most to voters before the debate.

And the most important non-economic issue for voters, according to Gallup, is immigration. The one memorable task given to Harris by Biden was to stem the U.S.-Mexico border crisis.