Over the weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris toured several Western states, especially Nevada and Arizona, to campaign for President Joe Biden’s re-election.
However, voters consistently mention one thing holding them back from supporting Harris, according to CNN’s review of a focus group.
It’s her laugh.
“Several people said Harris rubs them the wrong way, in all the ways that are familiar from criticism of her. A few specifically cited her laugh — a frequent target of Republican operatives who flood clips of it on social media, which defenders say plays into sexism,” CNN said, in its review of the DNC-funded focus groups.
“No one in the vice president’s orbit, including Harris herself, needs to be reminded how the disappointment and disenchantment from her first years on the job still hang over her, or how odd it is that some voters say in interviews with CNN and outside focus groups they are inclined toward Biden but are turned off by Harris.”
In fact, Harris recently postponed an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Some insiders told CNN that her team rescheduled amid concerns about her laugh.
Harris has attributed her polling woes to the pandemic.
“You can’t forget that for the first probably year and a half, we were landlocked. It was basically me and Joe and a Zoom screen,” Harris told CNN during a Sunday interview. “Being out and being able to just have real conversations and not soundbites in an interview — it is liberating.”
However, Harris has seen her laugh haunt her even before the pandemic… and before her career in Washington.
In 2014, Harris was serving as California’s attorney general. At the time, she faced a call to consider legalizing marijuana. She laughed… and she saw the video resurface in 2019 during her failed campaign for president.
Take a look —
Granted, Team Harris found a silver lining in the focus group, according to insiders’ remarks to CNN. Harris tests better than Biden on certain issues: abortion, firearms, student debt, and Israel-Palestine.
Harris finished her multi-day tour of the Western U.S. without facing any pro-Hamas hecklers. So, she manages to clear that extraordinarily low bar.
She especially enjoys the opportunity to slam former President Donald Trump in front of friendly audiences.
“Here’s what a second Trump term looks like: More bans, more suffering and less freedom,” Harris told a crowd in Arizona this week, referring to the previous president’s position on abortion.
The Horn editorial team