Harris speaks in closing arguments to a specific group of undecided voters

WASHINGTON – Kamala Harris' presidential campaign is targeting two different demographics that make up a small portion of undecided voters who could sway the election as the Democratic nominee closes the race with a warning about Donald Trump's return to the White House.

As Harris ramped up her rhetoric against Trump, calling him a fascist, some Democratic allies questioned a Trump-centered strategy, calling it a risk for Harris to focus narrowly on the character of the former president and Republican nominee.

Republican critics have accused the vice president of giving up on “joy” as she prepares to deliver her “final speech” at the Ellipse in Washington DC, the same location where Trump delivered his speech on January 6, 2021, before his supporters attacked the Capitol.

But in an election that is historically close in seven battleground states, the Democratic candidate's final argument – deeming Trump too dangerous to take power – aims to appeal directly to about 3% to 5% of voters who have not yet made up their minds According to a Harris campaign official, the election is due a week before Election Day or is subject to change.

One camp is to “persuade” voters to participate, the official said. That includes young voters, voters of color and others who are inclined to vote for Harris but still need to be motivated. The group includes so-called “low-information voters” who do not closely follow daily news about the election campaign.

The second group consists of more engaged traditional swing voters — independent and suburban Republican voters who may have supported Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary against Trump but disagree with Harris. Many of these people voted Democratic in the 2022 midterm elections, largely due to the abortion issue following the Supreme Court's overturn of Roe v. Wade.

Harris campaign chairwoman Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a call with reporters Tuesday that presidential campaigns in the past focused solely on reaching voters so close to Election Day. But she said the Harris campaign remains in persuasion mode in addition to mobilization.

“We know that there really is this segment of undecided voters that is open – and frankly after this weekend – maybe some new voters who are open to supporting us,” O'Malley Dillon said, referring to Trump's campaign rally Sunday night at New York's Madison Square Garden, which has received bipartisan backlash for his racist comments and vitriol.

“These are the exact people we've been talking to all along,” O'Malley Dillon said of the two different camps. “And there is no doubt that we believe we have the opportunity to withdraw Trump’s past support.”

Trump says Harris is waging a 'campaign of hate'

A national USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll from Oct. 14-18 found 5% of likely voters were undecided, with Harris narrowly leading Trump 45% to 44%. A New York Times/Siena College poll from Oct. 20-23 found Harris and Trump tied nationally with 48% of likely voters and at least 4% undecided.

According to the University of Florida's Election Lab, more than 50 million people across the country have voted ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

According to the FiveThirtyEight average of recent polls, the seven battleground states expected to decide the election – Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada – are all within one to two percentage points.

Trump accused Harris of waging a “hate campaign” during his speech to supporters at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida ahead of his Democratic rival's Ellipse address. The Trump campaign has landed with the final message, “Harris broke it, Trump will fix it,” trying to link Harris to Biden's unpopularity and his poor marks on the economy and immigration.

“She is waging a campaign of 'immoralization' and in reality a campaign of destruction,” Trump said Tuesday morning. “But really, perhaps more than anything else, it is a campaign of hate. It is a campaign of absolute hate.”

Harris' push to portray Trump as dangerous comes as the former president's popularity ratings are higher than when he ran for re-election in 2020, when he led the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York Times/Siena College poll found that Trump is viewed favorably by 48% of likely voters and unfavorably by 50%. In the last Times poll before the 2020 election, Trump was viewed favorably by 43% of voters and unfavorably by 54%.

In her closing speech on Tuesday, Harris is expected to portray Trump as focused on himself and personal retaliation – who would carry an “enemies list” into the White House – in contrast to Harris and her “to-do list” of White House policies American people.

The campaign said Harris would present herself as a “new generation of leadership” to leave behind a decade of Trump-dominated politics and discuss her various policy proposals to improve housing affordability and promote small business growth.

“This is not a presidential candidate thinking about how to improve his life,” Harris plans to say of Trump, according to excerpts of her speech provided by the campaign.

Harris faces questions about closing strategy

The Ellipse on the National Mall wasn't just chosen to evoke memories of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in which Trump supporters tried to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election victory. But with the White House as a backdrop, the place is meant to remind Americans of the “gravity of work,” O'Malley Dillon said, so they can imagine the different approaches in the Oval Office.

“This speech is really aimed at reaching those undecided voters, those people who are making the decision to break through at a time when it's sometimes hard to get through,” O'Malley Dillon said.

Some Democrats have argued that Harris should make a more aggressive economic appeal in the final days of the campaign.”

“As she turned to Trump's attacks on democracy, Harris' campaign faltered,” Robert Reich, a former Labor secretary in the Clinton administration, wrote in a Guardian column on Tuesday. “I think it's because Americans remain focused on the economy and want an answer to why they continue to struggle economically.” Reich urged Harris to link Americans' ongoing economic fears to the power of big corporations bring to.

Harris seized on recent comments from John Kelly, Trump's former White House chief of staff, who said Trump fits the description of a fascist and has made admiring statements about Adolf Hitler in the past.

But leaders of Future Forward, the leading super PAC supporting Harris' presidential bid, have expressed concerns that Harris could end her campaign by attacking Trump solely as a fascist.

In an email from Future Forward to other Democrats, reported by The New York Times, the group wrote: “Purely negative attacks on Trump's character are less effective than contrasting messages that contain positive details about Kamala Harris' plans to attack the Trump administration.” to address the needs of everyday Americans.”

The Harris campaign has rejected criticism of the strategy, arguing that the heightened warnings about Trump are central to the contrasting message to Harris.

“America, we know what Donald Trump is up to. More chaos. More division. And a policy that helps those at the top and hurts everyone else,” Harris wants to say in her speech. “I offer another way.”

Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.

Trump says Harris is waging a 'campaign of hate'

Harris faces questions about closing strategy

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