Based on recent polls, former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump is slightly behind Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Harris’ minor lead has encouraged Trump to amp up personal attacks on Harris, which could be seen through his lies and attacks at the recent debate. These personal attacks are unnecessary and harmful to his campaign.
Prior to President Joe Biden dropping out of the election, Trump had a 2 percent lead However, recent polls are showing that Harris has a 1.6 percent lead on Trump. While this lead is minor and within the margin of error, it has still been enough to put Trump on edge and make him continue to make this election a battle of persons rather than a battle of policy. At the debate Trump attacked the way that Biden and Harris have run the white house for the past 4 years. Saying that their inability to fire economists has led to the poor economy, saying that they, “have done such a poor job.” This rant concerning Harris’s inability to fire people was unprovoked, and a wasted response to Harris calling him out for her having the endorsement of 200 Republicans.
While Trump is only polling 1.6 points behind Harris, his favorability ratings are far behind hers. In a survey of favorability, the population of Americans who had an unfavorable opinion of Harris was only 0.3 percent greater than the population of Americans who had a favorable opinion of Harris. On the other hand, the population of Americans who had an unfavorable opinion of Trump was 9.7 percent greater than the population of Americans who had a favorable opinion of him. This nine-point difference could be boiled down solely to his personality, rather than actual policies.
Multiple strategists have advised Trump to focus on policies, as he would have a much greater probability of beating Harris. However, making personal attacks and comments is just a key part of Trump’s narcissism, which has taken an effect on how he polls and his performance at the debate. Even voters would prefer that the debates stuck to policy rather than personal attacks. Trump’s performance at the debate was “suboptimal“, and his personal attacks and lack of focus on policies compounded with his lies are the reason that Kamala is the perceived winner of the debate.
Trump’s policies concerning inflation and border control are more trusted in comparison to Harris’ policies on the matter. Even though Trump’s economic policies are questionable as to whether they are effective, realistic, or practical, they still poll well with voters. These two points are enough to keep the election close and could result in a win for Trump if he makes the correct moves.
Another issue with Trump’s strategy to attack people rather than to focus on policies is that when Biden dropped out of the election, Trump’s work destroying Biden’s image became irrelevant. This forced him to find insults and flaws in Harris, his new competitor.
However, with Trump repeatedly making sexist, racist and personal attacks on Harris, it is poorly reflected in his polling. Even with Trump returning to his 2016 election playbook and offensive comments about his competitor, his favorability, while low, has still increased.
Moreover, Trump’s demographic of voters represents his sexist ideals, with 67 percent of young male voters supporting Trump whereas only 29 percent of young females say they support Trump. While some may find Trump’s vulgar comments to be a draw, ultimately they play a major part in his lower favorability ratings and poor polling with female voters. While some may approve of his sexist comments, his ratings would be much higher without unnecessary comments on gender.
In conclusion, Trump’s constant personal attacks on his political opponents are leading to him performing less than optimal in the polls. This poor polling has a simple solution. First, Trump should focus on his better polling policies: inflation and border control. Secondly, he must minimize personal insults in order to appeal to a wider group of voters. Overall, if Trump would like to continue to destroy any chance he had at winning the election then he should continue to make the election personal. However if he would like to be re-elected, then he should listen to his strategists, and take into account his loss at the debate, and focus on his policies and mannerisms.
