The media is definitely all-in on declaring Kamala Harris the winner in the debate but what matters is what the voters think, and we’re seeing some interesting responses there–both in the polls and in the focus groups.
As we noted, while the CNN poll said Harris “performed better,” Trump came out ahead in the most important categories: on the economy, immigration, and leadership as the commander in chief. He actually gained after the debate on the economy, so he was 20 points up on her there.
Then there were the remarks of some in the CBS focus group, who had similar thoughts, saying she just repeated Biden’s lines but if she was going to do all these things, why hasn’t she done them already?
While media is looking at who won a battle, the voters want to know what the candidates think on the issues. Harris didn’t deliver on that by making faces at Trump, being nasty, and avoiding answering the moderators’ questions.
READ MORE: WATCH: CBS Focus Group Members Drop Some Big Time Reality on Kamala Harris
CNN Poll Shows Trump Beat Harris on the Point That Matters Most to the American People
A Reuters focus group really shows this difference in perception and focus between the media and the voters:
Reuters interviewed 10 people who were still unsure how they were going to vote in the Nov. 5 election before they watched the debate. Six said afterward they would now either vote for Trump or were leaning toward backing him. Three said they would now back Harris and one was still unsure how he would vote. [….]
Five said they found Harris vague during the more than 90-minute debate on how she would improve the U.S. economy and deal with the high cost of living, a top concern for voters. [….]
The six said they “trusted him more on the economy,” and their “personal financial situation had been better when he was president between 2017-2021”:
Four of those six also said Harris did not convince them she would pursue different economic policies than Democratic President Joe Biden, a Democrat they largely blame for the high cost of living.
Translation? Harris tried to play games to avoid the questions and attack Trump, but she wasn’t answering the questions people wanted to hear from her. And they noticed. She didn’t say how she would be different or enough about her own plans. They know things were better before, under Trump.
ABC News not checking her statements or pressing her actually may have made things worse for her with these undecideds. First, it looks biased and bad. But also, she never had to say what her positions are, so people still don’t know:
“I still don’t know what she is for,” said Mark Kadish, 61, an entrepreneur in Florida. “There was no real meat and bones for her plans.” [….]But she focused much of the debate on attacking Trump rather than laying out detailed policies.
Robert Wheeler, 48, a security firm executive in Nevada, was leaning toward Harris before the debate. He now says if the election were held tomorrow he would vote for Trump, largely because he thought Harris didn’t provide clarity on her policies.
“I felt like the whole debate was Kamala Harris telling me why not to vote for Donald Trump instead of why she’s the right candidate,” Wheeler said.
That was her one job — and she failed.
