'Ruthlessly effective' Harris is beating Republicans at their own game: Dem insider
According to the former assistant chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Vice President Kamala Harris is not only deploying a change in tactics for the Democratic party, it is working for her as her poll numbers can attest.
In a column for the New York Times, Adam Jentleson wrote that Harris put what he calls "vice signaling" on full display during a recent sit-down interview with the popular Oprah Winfrey where she pointed out that she owns a gun and that she is willing to use it if her home is invaded.
According to Jentleson, that is a message that reaches out to voters who normally balk at "virtue signaling" which mostly only appeals to college-educated white voters.
ALSO READ: Trump turned politics into a joke — and now he’s the punchline
As he wrote, Harris so far, has been "ruthlessly effective" at expanding her voter base.
Regarding "virtue" versus "vice" signaling, he explained, "'Virtue' and 'vice' here are not to be taken literally. Rather, they refer to the world as seen through the rigid beliefs and commitments of college-educated whites, a narrow yet influential slice of the Democratic coalition whose views of what constitutes virtue are not necessarily shared by most Americans and who police any deviations as vice. Yet it is precisely those breaks from the fold that signal something powerful to the average voter."
According to Lentleson, fear of using "vice signaling" — something Republicans routinely use — has handcuffed Democrats for years.
"Many Democratic policy positions are popular, but when it comes to ideology, most American voters feel closer to Republicans," he wrote before adding, "The reason is that despite embracing many popular policies, Democrats have fallen out of step with the American people on something larger: their approach to the world. Americans are mavericks, yet Democrats have come to be seen as rigid, a party defined by lawn signs that tell passers-by not to bother approaching unless they agree on a litany of issues."
He then advised Harris and her campaign to continue to embrace the new approach as the election nears.
"The debate showed that vice-signaling works. Left-wing interest groups melted down, but undecided voters liked Ms. Harris’s performance, rating her the winner by a wide margin," he wrote before concluding, "So Ms. Harris must continue to vice-signal with gusto. She has an opportunity to change the public’s perception of Democrats as the orthodox party — to ask people to take down their lawn signs touting tolerance and instead actually be tolerant of a diversity of views."
You can read more here.
