The Morning: The Harris campaign begins
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2024-07-23 12:22
Good morning. We’re covering the start of the Harris campaign — as well as the Trump shooting, Soviet nostalgia and the Tesla Cybertruck.
Harris’s opportunityKamala Harris has an opportunity that would not have been available to President Biden if he’d been the Democratic nominee. She can reintroduce herself to voters in ways that address their biggest complaints about Biden’s record and the Democratic Party. It won’t be easy. She is Biden’s vice president, after all. Yesterday, a Republican political group urged candidates to criticize Harris as a radical, while JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, told a rally, “The Biden record is the Kamala Harris record.” Still, Harris is not Biden, and she can subtly distance herself from his record and emphasize what she would do differently. There is a long history of vice presidents who did so when running for president. George H.W. Bush suggested in 1988 that he was “kinder and gentler” than Ronald Reagan. Al Gore portrayed himself in 2000 as more ethical than Bill Clinton (and came within a few hundred butterfly ballots of victory). Hubert Humphrey surged in the 1968 race after he belatedly separated himself from Lyndon Johnson’s Vietnam policies. In today’s newsletter, I’ll examine some of the Democratic Party’s biggest weaknesses now. They offer Harris an opportunity to argue that she isn’t an ordinary politician. Why moderation worksDemocrats often describe Donald Trump and other Republicans as radical. And today’s Republican Party is indeed radical in important ways. Many Republicans still claim that Trump won the 2020 election. Their party favors unpopular abortion restrictions and deep tax cuts for the rich. But many voters also see the Democratic Party as radical. In fact, the average American consider the Democratic Party to be further from the political mainstream than the Republican Party. A Gallup poll last month, for example, asked Americans whether they agreed with Biden or Trump “on the issues that matter most to you.” Only 37 percent said Biden, compared with 49 percent who said Trump. Similarly, a 2021 poll by the Winston Group asked people to rate themselves — as well as Democratic and Republican politicians — on an ideological scale from 1 to 9, with 1 being very liberal and 9 being very conservative. Most people placed themselves closer to Republicans than to Democrats:
This chart helps explain why successful presidential candidates reassure voters that they are more moderate than their party. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Biden all did in their own ways. Even Trump did in 2016, by supporting Social Security, opposing trade deals and endorsing same-sex marriage. The strategy works because most voters see themselves as less conservative than the Republican Party and less liberal than the Democratic Party. Five Democratic vulnerabilities
An early question about candidate Harris is whether she will signal that she’s more mainstream than other Democrats. How could she do so? Polls suggests that each of the following is a Democratic vulnerability:
Obama and Biden were sending a larger message. It was the same one Clinton sent when he called himself “a new Democrat” and George W. Bush did with his talk of “compassionate conservatism.” It was also the one Trump recently tried to send by saying he opposed a national abortion ban. All these politicians were asserting their independence from their own parties. It’s hard to get elected president without doing so.
More on Harris
The Trump Campaign
The Trump Shooting
International
Business
Other Big Stories
Opinions When Kamala Harris ran for president four years ago, her background as a prosecutor hurt her with liberals. Trump’s legal woes have changed that, Nicole Allan writes. Republican populists are responding to real problems. But they lack a base of technocrats able to solve them, Julius Krein writes. Here are columns by Michelle Goldberg on Democratic euphoria and Paul Krugman on Trump’s claim about “Black jobs.” Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer.
Big truck energy: More than any other Tesla, the Cybertruck, with its love-it-or-hate-it aesthetic, represents Elon Musk himself. Ask Vanessa: “What should I wear to the Olympics?” Frugal traveler: Spend a week in Chicago. Social-media diet: Conservative content is flourishing on TikTok, where younger people find strong opinions outside the mainstream. 8-bit ball: Times readers shared memories of their favorite sports video games. Lives Lived: Abdul Fakir, who was known as Duke, was the last remaining original member of the Four Tops. He sang tenor on hits like “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).” Fakir died at 88.
N.F.L.: The Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love is refusing to practice until he signs a new contract. The team does not seem worried. Olympics: LeBron James led the U.S. men’s basketball team to a win over Germany in its final tuneup before the Paris Games. Read a recap.
“Barbie” — directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie — was a phenomenon. It seemed to some that the film might herald a new era of movies made and led by women, but little has changed in the 12 months since its release. “Ask around Hollywood and the consensus seems to be that ‘Barbie’ is a singular success,” Nicole Sperling writes. “Translation: Don’t expect a lot of movies like that in theaters anytime soon.” More on culture
Dot juicy blueberries in cinnamon-scented batter for this pecan crunch cake. Take a quiz about movies based on Shakespeare’s plays. Consider a purse for your water bottle. Slow down your morning by hand-grinding your coffee.
Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was honeymooned. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David P.S. The Times politics reporter Reid Epstein was at his son’s birthday party when Biden announced his withdrawal from the race. Read about how he reacted to and covered the news. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.
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