(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Trump campaign dismissed calls for a debate between Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Vice President Kamala Harris, citing growing uncertainty about the Biden-Harris ticket.
“We don’t know who the Democrat nominee for Vice President is going to be, so we can’t lock in a date before their convention,” said Brian Hughes, a Trump senior advisor, in a humorous retort on Wednesday. “To do so would be unfair to Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, or whoever Kamala Harris picks as her running mate.”
The Trump campaign is declining to schedule a vice presidential debate prior to the Democrat Convention.
“To do so would be unfair to Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, or whoever Kamala Harris picks as her running mate.” pic.twitter.com/ObB30br9Q6
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 17, 2024
This statement follows Trump’s selection of Vance as his running mate and mounting calls for Biden to step down as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.
Some Democrats claim Harris, a former senator and California prosecutor, could be a more suitable nominee, given her comparatively better ability to make the case for four more years of Democratic governance. However, polls indicate that Harris is equally, if not more, unpopular than Biden.
A BlueLabs Analytics polling memo in seven battleground states shows that while Harris polls better than Biden, she trails other Democratic figures, including Govs. Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Wes Moore and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.
The memo suggests that each of these Democrats could defeat Trump by 5 points across battleground states.
“Some of the gains are coming from winning undecideds and those previously supporting a third party. However, alternative candidates are also pulling votes from Donald Trump. All candidates continue to hold the Democratic base,” the memo, first reported by Politico, added.
BlueLabs Analytics concluded that voters are “looking for a fresh face.” Yet, Biden, who is 81, has been in public office since 1972, only taking a break after Trump’s rise to power in 2016.
A polling memo circulating among Dem party officials argues that the best chance to defeat Trump is with a new nominee independent of the incumbent admin.
In other words: not Kamala Harris.
Playbook has more ⬇️https://t.co/uZZfFPeXmK
— POLITICO (@politico) July 17, 2024
