Pollster Frank Luntz on Friday said that voters in the focus groups he conducts are worried about Vice President Kamala Harris being politically radical.
Harris supported many left-wing policies during her 2020 presidential campaign and selected a running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for her 2024 run, who also has a far-left record on immigration and transgender policies. Luntz, on “CNN This Morning,” said the voters in his focus groups are fond of Harris’ “persona,” but they are uncertain and concerned about “her politics. (RELATED: Harris Once Bragged About Working ‘Behind The Scenes’ To Get Sex Change Surgeries For Trans Inmates)
WATCH:
Frank Luntz Tells CNN Voters In His Focus Groups Have ‘Real Concern’ Harris Is ‘Extreme’ pic.twitter.com/dd9TWeDNLU
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 16, 2024
“She’s got to show that she’s got the answers, that she has the solutions and she’s not extreme. This is the one thing that I hear in my focus groups — a real concern that her politics, she’s from California, she did not even make it to the very first caucus, she participated in the debates and did not do well,” Luntz said. “So voters are asking themselves, ‘What’s behind the aura? What’s behind the persona?'”
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – AUGUST 6: Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz walk out on stage together during a campaign event on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“They like the persona. They don’t know the details. And the next 80 days, that’s exactly what she’ll have to provide,” he continued. “Are they centrist, are they mainstream or are they extreme? That’s her challenge.”
The vice president is slated to deliver her first substantial policy speech regarding her economic proposals on Friday in North Carolina, where she will prioritize cutting costs for Americans. Harris has yet to publish a policy platform on her campaign website as of Aug. 16, almost four weeks into her presidential campaign.
LARGO, MARYLAND – AUGUST 15: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris gives remarks alongside U.S. President Joe Biden at Prince George’s Community College on August 15, 2024 in Largo, Maryland (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Harris advanced left-wing legislation during her time as a senator, such as government workforce diversity, environmental justice, eviction pauses and work permits for some illegally present migrants. The vice president also previously compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the Ku Klux Klan and praised the “Defund the Police” movement, but she has backtracked on some of her positions since launching her 2024 campaign.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaking at the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., March 12, 2022. (Screen Capture/CSPAN)
Former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza recently warned “the most dangerous thing for Harris is this attack on her liberalism.”
“She’s from the coast; she’s from San Francisco. She has a pretty liberal voting record in the Senate, and she took a number of very liberal positions — banning fracking, supporting the Green New Deal, supporting Medicare for All, a mandatory buyback of assault weapons,” Cillizza said. “She took a lot of positions in the 2020 campaign that I don’t think people have really sort of known about or detailed.”
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