By Todd Lassa
Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump leads Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris 48% to 47% in Sunday’s New York Times/Siena College Poll. Rather, we should say they’re in another “statistical tie,” which has been the case in most major polls for Trump v. Harris in the last month.
Democrats and anti-MAGA Republicans worry that at this point in the 2016 and 2020 election campaigns, Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden, respectively, were ahead of Trump by more than statistical ties.
Nate Cohn notes in his NYT newsletter The Tilt that almost 30% of voters surveyed say they need to learn more about Harris – as they should Tuesday evening – and that there haven’t been many “high-quality” polls taken since the vice president’s Democratic National Convention bump.
According to Cohn the poll points to four distinct advantages Trump enjoys at this point in the race:
•At 46%, Trump’s favorability rating is higher than ever; convictions and indictments be damned.
•He holds an advantage with voters on the issues.
•The former president “occupies the center.” Apparently, the “Comrade Kamala” insults are working, misplaced syllable accent and all.
•He is considered the “change candidate” in a nation that wants “change” (apparently the “incumbent advantage” goes away when the incumbent drops out in favor of his veep).
It seems that as of the post-Labor Day presidential campaign kick-off, Trump as a politician has been “normalized” in a way he could never achieve in 2020, let alone 2016. His odd campaign rally tangents seem to have been normalized, too.
In the opening remarks of his “town hall-style” rally on Fox News with Sean Hannity last Tuesday, Trump pumped up his crowd by quoting Hungary’s authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán; “Bring Trump back and we won’t have these problems.”
The next day, the Justice Department charged two employees of the global network Russian Television, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and with money laundering in what is described as a covert operation to influence the November election. About $9.7 million was funneled to Tenet Media, according to the DOJ. Tenet, run by Canadians Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan – who as of Monday have not been charged – in turn allegedly paid for hundreds of videos about election fraud, COVID-19, immigration and Russia’s war with Ukraine by such conservative media stars as Benny Johnson, Tim Pool and Dave Rubin, according to The New York Times.
These “useful idiots” posted their “Kremlin-friendly messages” on such social media as YouTube, TikTok, X-Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Rumble.
It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that as in 2016, the Kremlin’s efforts to influence the 2024 presidential election might be working. Trump continues to buddy up with Orbán, NATO’s sole anti-Ukraine leader and a close friend of Vladimir Putin, and their relationship and their antipathy for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his country’s efforts to remain independent has long been normalized by the MAGA wing controlling the GOP – but pointedly not the traditional wing, including former Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, as well as Dick Cheney and John Bolton.
How will ABC News’ Linsey Davis or David Muir raise these issues about Putin, Orbán and the useful idiots in Tuesday evening’s debate? Will they raise it? And how will Vice President Harris react to the biggest issue in this election that at least half of voters do not care about?
MONDAY-TUESDAY 9/9-10/24