Harris Is Still Trying to Rebuild Biden’s Winning 2020 Coalition

The Democratic coalition that elected President Biden in 2020 was fractured and weakened by the time he ended his campaign for re-election. In the six weeks since, Kamala Harris has gone a long way toward repairing the damage.

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But recent Wall Street Journal polling shows the vice president has more work to do to overcome the gains former President Donald Trump has made among Black, Latino and young voters—groups that traditionally back Democrats. Any erosion in the Democratic coalition could decide the election, given that Biden’s support was barely strong enough to win in 2020. The president’s Electoral College victory rested on tiny margins of about 44,000 votes across three states.

Support for Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has grown by 13 percentage points among Black voters since Biden left the race in July, combined results of Journal polls in late July and August show. But at 81% support, she is still 10 points behind Biden’s 2020 mark.

Ed Morrissey

This may matter more in this cycle too because the turnout will likely be significantly lower than 2020. Enthusiasm numbers among Democrats have gone up briefly with the change to Harris, but that probably won't last. 

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