'Harris' job is to unify Democrats': 'Reset campaign, draw in new fundraisers, energize electorate'
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00:00Harris on the campaign trail. Let's get the analysis of the situation. Brian W. Smith joins
00:04us, Professor of Political Science at St. Edwards University. Sir, thank you very much for being with
00:08us here in France 24. Can I just put to you the findings of a recent poll? I think this is the
00:14most up-to-date one. Ipsos Reuters, Harris leading Donald Trump by two points, 44 to 42.
00:21Direct turnaround from how it was with Biden and Trump.
00:24Yes, it's a direct turnaround. Now she's ahead. But the important thing to remember is we're still
00:30within the margin of error. Race is still too close to call, but it's trending. She's getting
00:35that bump that the Democrats thought she would when Biden stepped down.
00:39Indeed, completely. It is too close to call. And obviously, opinion polls are just that,
00:44opinions. And that might change come voting day. So clearly, there are lots of obstacles to be
00:48overcome on both sides. Harris says she has enough delegates, and certainly the money's pouring in.
00:54Are you surprised that she's reacted and acted so quickly?
00:59She acted very quickly because the support was going her way. And the worst thing that could
01:04happen to the Democrats would be a fractured party coming out of Chicago. She's really united the
01:09party behind her, and that's what she needs to do. Now she's got to keep that momentum going into
01:14Chicago and into the fall. She spoke yesterday and said some fairly, I'm trying to choose the
01:21right word. I'll say choice things about Donald Trump. But clearly, she had a definite message
01:26for the voters about being the party in the government for the middle class. Do you think
01:30that is a good tactic on Harris's part? Definitely a good tactic. You can't win
01:36elections without getting middle class voters. There aren't enough rich or poor people in America
01:40to win just by their vote. And we know that Joe Biden did very well getting working class voters,
01:47voters in the very key states. She's got to reestablish that coalition. And how you do that,
01:53direct appeals to middle class voters, because middle class voters are around every state and
01:59very important in every state. Just over 100 days before the election. Some might say it's
02:04too short a time to make such a massive impact that she needs to make. But it started well.
02:10It did start well, and she doesn't have to actually make a massive impact.
02:14She has a very high floor, meaning she already has 40% of the vote, just like Donald Trump has
02:2040% of the vote. Her biggest problem is we don't know where her ceiling is. If she ends up only
02:25getting 47% of the vote, she loses. So she really has a lot of work to do. Because right now she's
02:31pulling well with Democrats to win the election. She has to get independents to rally around her
02:37and not the former president. Do you think the fact that Harris is coming into the contest at
02:42this particular stage could actually work in her advantage? Short, sharp shock, big impact.
02:48Definitely. If you're in a hole, you stop digging. The Democrats were in a hole,
02:52they stopped digging. So now they have to figure out how to get out. And it wasn't Joe Biden,
02:57he wasn't going to get him out of that hole. So this is a chance to reset the campaign,
03:01draw in new fundraisers, energize the electorate. We know the Republicans are unified.
03:06Now it's her job to unify the Democrats.
03:09I'm going to pick my words for this next question. You mentioned Joe Biden.
03:12Does he have a role to play as kind of like a joker in some ways? I'm not saying he's a joke,
03:18he isn't. But kind of this kind of loose cannon, kind of free electron, as we say in French,
03:26someone can actually sort of basically turn up, bid things, say things,
03:29and create in some ways that momentum for Harris.
03:32Right. What he has to do is be Vice President Harris's biggest supporter. He has to support
03:39everything that she does. He also has to be very careful about what he says. He's always had
03:45trouble saying the wrong thing at the absolute worst time. He's got to stay on point, stay on
03:50message, support that vice president. Let's talk about the other side of the equation.
03:56Trump vanced that ticket, which looked all fresh and new just a few days ago. But then
04:00Biden dropped out and completely changed the news agenda.
04:03So how do Trump and Vance get that new spotlight back onto them?
04:08How they get onto that is they start doing that opposition research. They find out where Kamala
04:14Harris's weaknesses are and then go after those. She's from California, which doesn't play well in
04:21a lot of America. And that's where you start. You paint the vice president as being somebody
04:26who is way too liberal for America and the wrong choice. And they have the script written
04:32for Biden. Now it's actually easier to paint the vice president as somebody out of touch.
04:38Indeed, slightly difficult to do that with Harris, of course, and dealing with a woman,
04:42of course, it might actually sort of wrong foot Trump in some ways because of his
04:46awkwardness in dealing with women, it seems. How about Vance, though? Harris saying that she
04:51will be the president for the middle classes, for working people. That seems to be Vance's
04:58territory, doesn't it? Something that Vance says is his constituency.
05:01Right. They picked Vance because for the Republicans to win, he has to get the middle
05:07class vote in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin. And if she's able to siphon off those
05:14votes just a little bit, she can win the election. We know this is going to be a very close election
05:20and it's all about turnout. Whoever gets more of their own voters out and independence wins the
05:26race. Brian, thanks for your time and thanks for your analysis. Professor Brian Smith of St.
05:31Edward's University. Hope we speak again soon, sir. Thank you very much indeed.
05:34Thank you for having me. Absolute pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.
05:38U.S. Politics Analyzed there by our guest, Brian W. Smith.