In a recent episode of the Pod Save America podcast, key figures from Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign team broke their silence following the electoral defeat.
They revealed that public polls had projected a lead that the campaign team "never saw," according to The Post Millennial.
David Plouffe, Senior Advisor to Kamala Harris, shared that "there were these public polls that came out in late September, early October showing us with leads that we never saw." He further elaborated, "You know, I mean, it was just basically a race that in the battlegrounds was 46-47, 47-48, so thats not where we started, we started behind."
Plouffe explained that despite Harris managing to "climb out, I think even after the debate" with a marginal gain of 0.51 percent, the race remained relatively static. He emphasized the importance of undecided voters breaking in their favor and the need for a turnout benefit, both of which the campaign failed to secure. "We were dealing with ferocious headwinds and I think people's instinct was to give the Republicans and even Donald Trump another chance," Plouffe stated.
The campaign's decision to challenge Trump to a second debate immediately after the first was driven by the need for impactful moments, according to Plouffe. He admitted, "We were behind in the race with a candidate who was not fully defined."
Jen O'Malley Dillon, Harris' Campaign Chair, reflected on the campaign's outreach efforts, including podcasts that targeted "key constituencies." Despite their best efforts to reach out "everywhere we could," they faced challenges.
Dillon noted that there were individuals, including athletes, who were "just not super interested in getting their brand caught up in the politics of this campaign, and I dont think he had the same problem."
Dillon conceded that Trump was able to "tap into some cultural elements in ways that we couldnt," which had a significant impact on their campaign. She expressed regret over their inability to engage in meaningful conversations in places where they knew they had support. "I think back and think we should have signaled more of our strategy early on about podcasts and who we were trying to reach, but we had a limited amount of time to reach the people who were trying to reach and we were trying to go to them," Dillon concluded.
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