CHICAGO: Vice President Kamala Harris should feel on top of the world. She’s leading in the polls and has galvanized and excited her base, but the next few months will not easy as the Obamas have already warned.
FiveThirtyEight, a polling aggregator, has Harris leading by 3.6 percentage points while Real Clear Politics Average says she’s polling just ahead of Trump by less than two points and Trump is leading in a number of battleground states.
Political strategist James Carville, who is known for helping Bill Clinton win his presidential bid in 1992, warned Democrats that promising polls should not lead the party into feeling themselves.
Speaking recently on “Real Time With Bill Maher,” Carville said ‘I challenge Democrats with some caution here. First of all, most want to say we have to win by three in the popular vote to win the Electoral College. So when you see a poll that says we two up. Well, that’s actually, you’re one down if the poll is correct,” Carville explained, adding. “The other thing is Trump traditionally, when he’s on the ballot, chronically under-polls.”
Regardless, the DNC convention was a spectacular bash which rooted the VP’s support and united a party who’d loss confidence in President Joe Biden after a worrisome debate with Trump. As the Obamas warned, beating Trump will be tough and supporters at the Democratic National Convention agreed, but also suggested the work is just beginning.
Shortly after the DNC convention ended in Chicago, The Root spoke with Black attendees on how to turn the excitement into action.
Geno Jones, a 59-year-old radio host from South Carolina, acknowledged that getting Harris to become the first Black woman president will be difficult, however the decision, he said, to put her in the White House is a straightforward one.
“We’re choosing between our freedom and our oppression. I can’t put it any simpler than that. And for those who may not believe that, if you have any doubt—just read Project 2025 ‘cause the oppression is spelled out in all 922 pages.”
While Jones’ words suggest maintaining our freedom is what should motivate Black people to ensure a win for Harris, Martine St-victor, who works in a communications and hails from Canada, said Harris’ campaign has differed from anything she’s ever seen before. That excitement, she experienced in Chicago, she believes could be enough to beat Trump.
“As someone from Canada…it’s refreshing and I’m hoping this energy trickles down,” adding, “When you look at elections around the world, there’s a lot of apathy…including France’s recent election and the rest of Europe. I’m hoping that we can learn from the United States about Harris’ engagement, participation and civic responsibility.”
Margerie Martin, a 53-year old Chicago native, attended all four days of the DNC. Still, in her opinion, the excitement is not enough. She told The Root that springing into immediate action is the only way Harris will win this November.
“After [the convention], I’m going home…my mother is out there now…the seniors in my neighborhood are taking over Cermak [road] to enroll people to vote. I’m going to the school board to teach people how to vote from dog catcher to Kamala Harris.”
Though Martin hoped to make change happen on a local level for Harris to become president, Cristian Rice, 28, said Harris needs to take a more practical and national approach if she wants to be victorious.
“Harris is going to have to travel to a lot more states than just the Sunbelts and the blue walls,” Rice, a Miami native, stated. “I think she has to make some bets in places that are unexpected: Florida, Texas, Virginia, even New York where she can really affect the momentum on a ground level because we know she can’t enact any of these policies without a Congress to really be there.
She also said Harris needs to start visiting strongholds that are held by Republicans to keep the support going for “the state and local houses up for election as well.”
Perhaps Chicago resident Leo Maxey, 78, summed it up best when he said that even though the DNC was promising and exciting, there is still much work to do.
“What we have to do is remember it’s gonna be a fight. We can’t say ‘all we have to do is vote,’ Maxey said. “We have to keep fighting and make sure that the undecided voters and those who don’t vote at all get out there and vote. Or at least put it on their minds so they’ll understand how important this is.”…Read more by Candace McDuffie
