CNN anchor Kate Bolduan asked a network panel on Friday morning how Vice President Kamala Harris can boost her performance in the polls when former President Trump is “killing” her on economic issues.
Bolduan spoke to CNN political commentators Van Jones and Alyssa Farah Griffin about how, though Harris did well in the debate and is giving some good messaging in areas, Trump is still beating her on one of the most important issues this election cycle.
“You’ve got, potentially, a good sign that Kamala Harris can talk about, kind of quote-unquote late-stage change, but you still have Donald Trump killing her when it comes to the economy,” she said.
The anchor stated that the Harris campaign is in a “funky place” ahead of the November election, and mentioned polling that demonstrated Trump maintaining a key advantage in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday night’s debate.
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“In that snap poll after the debate, he was up 20 points on the economy even though the vast majority said she won the debate,” Bolduan told her guests.
However, both pundits downplayed the numbers.
Jones replied by saying that 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was seen as better than former President Obama on the economy, and Obama won. “People thought Romney was better on the economy than Obama but people believed that Obama was going to fight for them harder.”
“People might think, ‘Yeah, he might be better on the economy, but he said he’ll help the billionaires, he’s not gonna help me,'” he added.
Griffin’s counterpoint was that Trump is too easily distracted to capitalize on this 20-point advantage, pointing to one of his viral moments at the debate as evidence for her argument.
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“The economy is objectively Donald Trump’s strongest issue, but it comes down to can he actually focus on that? Aides have put him up to give speeches focused on it and he ends up diverting to all different directions – Hannibal Lecter, now we’re onto eating animals,” she said.
Jones jumped back in, stating that “Every candidate has their strong points and their weak points.”
“Economy – weaker for her. Abortion – weaker for him,” he said. “So, everybody’s got strengths and weaknesses. What you want to do is mitigate your weaknesses as much as you can – which is why he’s flip-flopping all over the place on abortion – and you lean into your strengths.”
Still, Bolduan wasn’t convinced the Harris campaign is doing all they can on the economy, stating that campaign officials she has talked to have not had good answers about the vice president’s performance on that issue.
“I just think the response I’ve gotten to ‘Why isn’t she doing better on the economy’ or ‘Why wasn’t Biden doing better on the economy’ that I’ve gotten from administration officials and from Democratic electeds – it has been unsatisfying to this point, which is ‘They just haven’t gotten our message,’” the anchor said.
She added, “And at some point, I’m asking, ‘Where’s the expiration date on that reasoning?’ As at some point there has to be.”
The Harris campaign did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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