Kamala Harris knows her one weakness that could hand Trump the election: analyst

Vice President Kamala Harris is aware that her polling situation may be hiding a key weakness that will let former President Donald Trump win the election — and is trying to head it off, wrote Patrick Healy for The New York Times.

Ultimately, he wrote, it all comes down to the fact that a large number of "undecided" voters are still dissatisfied with the economy, despite all of its improvement over the last year.

"Many moderate, independent, swing and undecided voters list the economy as their top issue. And many of them still praise Trump on economic issues," wrote Healy. "Americans as a rule hate inflation. Many of them fault the Biden-Harris administration. I don’t believe undecided voters who care most about the economy and are pinched by inflation are going to embrace Harris. I see no clear sign in the battleground states that her economic message is convincing large numbers of undecided and swing voters that she will be better on the economy than Trump."

The one thing keeping them from being a definitive vote for Trump, he continued, is that many of them are moderate, Nikki Haley supporting types who can't stand Trump's character and his involvement in the January 6 plot.

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"In my three years moderating Times Opinion focus groups, I’ve heard embarrassment from some non-MAGA people who voted for Trump. His conduct on Jan. 6, 2021 disgusts many of them," he wrote — which is why Harris is leaning hard into that in the final stretch of the race.

"She is campaigning with Liz Cheney in swing states and will be talking about Jan. 6. Maybe Harris and Cheney can turn some of these voters away from Trump, and capitalize on his 'enemy within' language and his threats against his critics and opponents," wrote Healy — making this issue prominent alongside her messages on the economy and abortion rights. In doing so, he argued, she hopes to remind voters dissatisfied with the economy why they are squeamish about Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump is fighting back with a message on culture war to try to demonize her, including attacks on LGBTQ rights, noted Healy: "He knows what he’s doing by sowing anxiety. Harris can’t afford this to be a fear vs. more-of-the-same election."