Harris’ billion-dollar war chest can’t buy a winning message

Vice President Kamala Harris has reportedly raised as much as $1 billion since she took over as Democratic Party leader, with much of it fueling large ad buys. Yet the race’s steady state and online criticism of her myriad messaging efforts suggest she may not be getting her money’s worth.

President Joe Biden abandoned his re-election bid in late July. Between then and the end of August, the Harris campaign made a total of 33 disbursements under the description “media buy” or some derivation thereof, totaling $136.6 million.

The campaign raised more than $200 million at the end of July and released $500 million at the end of August. As of mid-September, the campaign had more than $400 million in cash on hand. By contrast, the Trump campaign announced a $130 million haul for the entire month of August, about as much as the Harris campaign’s overall ad spending for that period. At the same time, it had about $295 million in cash on hand.

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign has reportedly spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on advertising since the beginning of September, more than double that spending compared to the Trump campaign.

And yet the overwhelming consensus is that Trump is currently the favorite to win the election. Despite a significant gap in fundraising and ad spending, the ex-commander in chief currently has a 59.5 percent chance of winning the White House in November, according to Polymarket. Additionally, RealClearPolitics gives Harris an average lead of 1.7%, but projects Trump to win 302 electoral votes.

So, as the race heads to the candidate with the smallest war chest and lowest ad spending, the question remains. Why has Harris failed to move the needle in the other direction?

The Trump campaign offered an explanation.

Trump campaign memo

In a memo released over the weekend, senior Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, as well as pollster Tony Fabrizio, suggested that the substance of Harris’ message was to blame as she did not failed to convince voters that it represented real “change”. of Joe Biden’s presidency.

“Since Labor Day, the Harris campaign has spent $241,407,417 on trackable media expenses, compared to just $104,774,939 paid by the Trump campaign,” they noted.

“Given the enormous amount of money her campaign has spent and the willingness of the mainstream media to give her a pass at every turn, how is it possible that she has slipped in our internal and public polls?” the trio continued. “Because she fails to convince voters that she is the ‘change agent’ in the race, that she will be better on the economy, inflation, immigration, crime or “If people are better off financially, the bottom line is that voters say President Trump will do a better job.”

Pro-Harris “real man” ad

Even if the vice-president indeed had difficulty distinguishing herself from her former running mate, even admitting that “nothing came to mind” when asked what she could have done differently during the mandate of Biden, there is reason to suggest that her messaging problem goes beyond a simple crisis of self-definition.

A pro-Harris ad drew widespread mockery this month for its seemingly far-fetched depiction of masculine “real men.” Although not a direct product of the campaign, the ad appears to be representative of the women-centric message espoused by the “Momala” campaign.

Featuring men in traditionally masculine environments such as a garage, a ranch, a gym, and the bed of a pickup truck, the ad showed them attempting to establish their masculine credentials using questionable settings, such such as the statement about “eating carburetors for breakfast” and the statement that “I’m not afraid of bears.”

They then claim that they are “manly enough to support women” and make another series of strange protests about their masculinity, including a willingness to “be emotional in front of my wife, in front of my children, in front of my horse.” They then point out which movies or musicals make them cry and say they are “man enough” to help a woman become president.

The ad went viral on social media, with one poster calling it “the cringiest political ad ever” and others seeing the message as an indication of the Harris camp’s inability to understand or effectively reach heterosexual male voters.

“Kamala’s “men” are not real men. Most do not have enough muscle to grow, build or carry groceries home for women,” wrote Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., in response. “They will get you pregnant, abandon you and tell you to abort your baby. REAL MEN care for and protect women and children.

Walz’s hunting trip

The message problem, however, appears to go beyond conventional commercials and extend to the campaign’s broader approach to advertising and awareness.

Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., for example, has tried to present himself as a conventional “man’s man” and went on a high-profile hunting trip in recent days with reporters at his side.

But some of these attempts, despite the Harris campaign’s heavy promotion, appear to have backfired. Indeed, in a viral video, Walz appears to have difficulty loading his shotgun, which has earned him criticism in light of his past statements that he handled “weapons of war.”

Indeed, the Trump campaign shared C-SPAN footage of Walz’s hunting trip, calling it a “poorly orchestrated photo op.”

Trump ads ‘effective’ with key voter bloc

Trump has recently touted growing support from black men, a traditionally Democratic-leaning constituency that he has courted heavily every election cycle. Some of his efforts appear to be paying off, as polls show an increase in support and prominent members of that community highlight the effectiveness of his ads.

Podcast host Charlamagne Tha God went viral last month in a clip in which he cheered a pro-Trump ad highlighting Harris’ support for taxpayer funding for prisoner gender reassignment.

“That ad had an impact,” he said, admitting it could have been more effective because it aired during a football match. “I was like, hell no, I don’t want my tax dollars going to this. This ad was effective.”

The Trump campaign later used these images in an ad reaffirming this claim and asserting that “Kamala is for them.” President Trump is for you.

Harris scrambles to build support

Seemingly losing the messaging war, Harris is doing everything she can to shore up her support ahead of the election and prevent the flood of Democratic voters from flowing to Trump.

To that end, she’s deployed a number of hard-hitting surrogates, like former President Barack Obama, who effectively shamed young black men for considering Trump at an event in Michigan last week.

“Are you considering sitting down or supporting someone who has a history of putting you down, because you think it’s a sign of strength, because that’s what it means to be a man? Denigrate women? Obama said, according to CNN. “This is not acceptable.”

Additionally, on Monday, she announced an “Opportunity Program” including a proposed million loans of up to $20,000 for Black entrepreneurs. The plan would see the government partner with lenders willing to offer the fully repayable sums.

Other last-minute efforts include his planned appearance on Fox News this week and mooting a possible appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, hoping to win over male voters.