Frank Luntz Torches Kamala Harris For Going ‘More and More Negative on Trump’: ‘I’m Wondering If She’s Too Late’ to Right the Ship
Political communications strategist Frank Luntz torched Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris for going “more and more negative” on former President Donald Trump in the closing days of her campaign during a recent appearance on CNN.
Asked by Jim Sciutto if the race for the White House is a “dead heat,” Luntz replied, “Absolutely,” before diving into his argument.
“With eight days to go, Trump’s numbers are baked, they’re done. We know everything there is to know about him. We’ve heard everything there is. We’ve lived through it. We really should be talking about Vice President Harris. Why has she not caught on? What’s holding her back? She had one of the most successful launches of any presidential candidate in modern history. She went from five points behind to three points up in a matter of weeks. And then she turns on Trump, and then her campaign stops being about what she’s going to do and starts being about what he’s done and will do,” began Luntz.
“And I note that it just froze right there,” he continued. “And, in fact, she’s probably retrenched, a point or two since she hit her peak. The public wants to know more. They want to know what she will do in her first day, in her first week, in her first month. And the campaign is going more and more negative on Trump, using Trump’s own words against him, but it’s a focus on Trump rather than herself. At what point is she going to tell the American people what she’s about? At what point is she going to get specific, detail-oriented? Who wins and who loses? I think that that’s the most important attribute right now. And I don’t see it happening.”
After Sciutto pointed out that Harris has touted proposals for Black and Latino Americans, Luntz wondered aloud where her “program for all Americans” was.
“What is going to happen with affordability? What’s going to happen with the border? The two biggest issues: immigration and affordability. She’s done an excellent job on focusing on the abortion issue, on the women’s health issues, and even on health care. But those aren’t the number one and number two issues for all of America,” he said. “And she still hasn’t said what she’s going to do — unless I missed it — in the first hour of her presidency, in the first day of her presidency and in the first week of her presidency. And she’s only got seven days to go. I’m wondering if she’s too late.”
