Newsmax political analyst Mark Halperin said Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris is facing challenges with key Democratic constituencies and regions in Michigan.
Harris currently leads former President Donald Trump by .6% in Michigan, according to the RealClearPolling (RCP) average. Halperin, on “American Agenda,” noted that while the Trump campaign sees Michigan as the least likely battleground state he will secure, the former president still has a chance due to Harris’ “issues” with certain voter demographics and “underperformance in the metro areas” of the state.
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“Well, it’s the — according to the Trump team — the weakest of the seven battlegrounds for him, but they haven’t given up hope. And it is a blue state for sure,” Halperin said. “It’s got elected Democrats to statewide offices. But the Democrats — first [President] Joe Biden, now Kamala Harris — has issues there with Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, Jewish Americans, labor, young black men.”
“And we’re seeing the same pattern there that we see in the other battlegrounds: Underperformance in the metro areas, Detroit, and then strong performance in the rural areas, presumably Trump voters,” he continued. “So I think that it may be the outlier and maybe Donald Trump wins others and doesn’t win there. But I could imagine all of Michigan going Trump. And of course he’s doing what he’s done in the past. He’s a superstitious guy closing his campaign tonight in Michigan.”
Trump leads Harris 45% to 43% with Arab American voters, according to an October Arab News/YouGov poll obtained by Semafor. Trump has also been gaining ground against Harris with Jewish voters, union voters and young black men.
Out of the top seven battleground states, Harris’ largest lead is in Michigan, while her only other lead is .4% in Wisconsin, according to the RCP averages. Halperin said Friday that Harris’ only viable path to defeating Trump may be to sweep Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin due to her trailing the former president in the Sun Belt swing states.
CNN’s Van Jones expressed anxiety on Monday about Harris’ chances against Trump in Pennsylvania, citing concerns about Philadelphia and Jewish voters.
“Philadelphia is where we’ve gotta run up a big margin, but Philly overall has been trending down, not in terms of going toward the Republicans, just people not getting out to vote,” Jones said. “And so you got people out there like Pastor Carl Day, who’s got a bunch of young men with him knockin’ on doors, trying to get people to come out. It’s a bigger, tougher fight in Philly to get that vote count up than it has been in the past. That has me worried.”
“The other thing that has me worried is that the Jewish vote in the suburban areas, [President Joe] Biden won the Jewish vote by 70%, 70-30 last time,” he added. “Some polls show Kamala at 50-50. That is 70,000 votes we’ve bled away. That is the margin for victory.”
Featured Image Credit: Office of Senator Kamala Harris
