You may have noticed how Vice President Kamala Harris has gone AWOL from the public eye after her disastrous CNN multiple-choice interview with Dana Bash.
In one clip, she is seen rushing from her limousine up the steps of her plane, ignoring reporters because she has wired headsets on, and giving the impression that she is talking to someone on her phone. The problem is that she is also holding the phone close to her ear. So, was she faking a conversation?
Harris was clearly faking her speech as she jetted from city to city for scripted campaign appearances. She was ridiculed for using tailored accents depending on her audience. Why can’t she just be herself?
Harris is a relative unknown as the 2024 presidential campaign season enters its final stretch, and Americans are finally tuning in. Her name recognition has spiked up in the last six weeks only because of wall-to-wall positive coverage on mainstream media outlets, celebrating her campaign theme of a younger person of color turning the page and leading America into a joyous future. Propaganda aside, voter responses about Harris’s favorability and record are crucial indicators of what may likely happen in November.
In our latest TIPP Poll, which surveyed 1,582 Americans and was completed last Friday, we asked voters how they would rate her term as Vice President. Only 44% approved of her performance. Democrats, glad to have had Biden dislodged and praying for anyone to beat Trump, really anyone, broadly said they approved her job as VP (85%). But, what must be concerning to Democrats is that nearly half of all independents (47%), who will play a vital role in the battleground states, disapproved.
And, there is more bad news for the Harris campaign. Her approval ratings on the economy—a top concern for Americans according to every survey over the last three years—are a disaster.
We asked: How would you grade Harris’s efforts on the economy? Only 37% overall graded her with a B or above. 25% of Democrats rated her C or below, an astonishing rebuke of her leadership even within her party. 88% of Republicans and 63% of independents graded her C or below.
On immigration and border security, another top issue in American minds since Biden and Harris opened the floodgates the day Biden took office, Harris polled lower than the economy. Only 30% overall graded her with a B or above. This score is directly linked to her performance as Vice President; after all, Biden expressly anointed her as the border czar, although the Harris campaign, ably assisted by the media, is attempting to rewrite history and claim that the President never did appoint her as such.
What is even more remarkable is that 35% of Democrats rated her C or below, showing that the Harris immigration policy has hurt millions of Democrats. The Vice President now claims that she will be tough on the border, but her past statements about Medicare for All, including illegal immigrants, will haunt her during the coming weeks. It was little surprise that 92% of Republicans and 69% of independents graded her C or below.
Harris fared no better on crime, another crucial issue. Surveys show that Americans have experienced a real deterioration in their quality of life. Only 33% graded her with a B or above.
Yet, when we asked voters about Harris’s favorability, 47% had a favorable view, an anomaly compared with how badly she polls on her record. Perhaps voters are persuaded by Harris’s promise of leaving behind two 78+-year politicians. Perhaps voters are concerned about Biden’s ongoing lawfare against Trump.
Voter skepticism is evident in Americans’ assessment of Harris’s performance as Vice President. Only about a third (37%) give her positive marks, while 59% rate her a C or below. Notably, a quarter of Democrats are dissatisfied, grading her performance at a C or lower. Meanwhile, two-thirds (66%) of independents and 89% of Republicans also rate her as average or below.
At next week’s ABC News debate, watch for President Trump to challenge Harris—ranked as the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate—on her miserable record and numerous flip-flops as she tries to move to the center from her San Francisco leftist position. Expect Harris to attack Trump hard on his legal troubles, character, and past while talking about a joyous future. The Vice President will try every trick to avoid discussing her own past or performance because doing so would be to her detriment. In effect, Harris will continue her handlers’ strategy of running out the clock before Americans realize what a terrible candidate she is.
We are convinced that ABC News will have among the highest viewership statistics ever for a network next week. The stakes are so high.
TIPP Takes
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, And More
1. Netanyahu Doubles Down On Control Of Gaza’s Border With Egypt – BBC
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has again insisted that Israeli forces will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor – a strategically important strip of land in southern Gaza along the border with Egypt.
He told foreign media in Jerusalem that he is “open” to considering alternatives to the presence of Israeli troops along the Gaza-Egypt border as part of any future permanent ceasefire deal – but that he did not see it happening. Mr Netanyahu argued that Israeli troops must remain in this buffer zone to prevent weapons and possibly Israeli hostages being smuggled across the border.
2. Israeli Forces Using ‘War-Like’ Tactics In Occupied West Bank: UN – Al Jazeera
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement that Israeli attacks have killed more than two dozen people over the past week or so, including children.
The continuing raids mostly concentrated on the Tulkarem and Jenin refugee camps, constitute Israel’s largest assault on the occupied territory since the second Intifada in the early 2000s. The raids have seen significant violence and numerous arrests, while Israeli military bulldozers have destroyed roads and other infrastructure.
3. WHO Hails Success Of Polio 1st Phase Vaccination Campaign In Gaza – AFP
The World Health Organization said the first phase of a large-scale polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has concluded successfully, providing nearly 200,000 children in the center of the Palestinian territory with their initial dose.
After the first confirmed polio case in 25 years, a massive vaccination effort began on Sunday, aided by localized “humanitarian pauses” in fighting. The campaign aims to fully vaccinate more than 640,000 children in the besieged territory, devastated by almost 11 months of war.
4. Lavrov Warns U.S. Not To Mock Russia’s ‘Red Lines’ – Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned the United States not to joke about Russia’s “red lines.”
Lavrov said the U.S. was losing sight of the sense of mutual deterrence that had underpinned the balance of security between Moscow and Washington since the Cold War and that this was dangerous. He was commenting on a report that the U.S. is close to an agreement to supply Ukraine with long-range JASSM cruise missiles that could reach deep inside Russia.
5. Zelenskiy: Russia Incursion Helps ‘Exchanges,’ But ‘We Don’t Need Their Land’ – RFE/RL
“Our operation is aimed at restoring our territorial integrity. We capture Russian troops to replace them with Ukrainian,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview.
“We tell them, you know, we need our military soldiers in exchange for Russian ones. The same attitude is to the territories. We don’t need their land.”
Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s southern Kursk region in early August marked the first foreign invasion of Russian territory since World War II.
6. U.S. Accuses Russian State Media Of Meddling In 2024 Election – D.W.
The Treasury Department announced that the U.S. government has sanctioned several Russian individuals and entities for “malign influence efforts” aimed at interfering with the November U.S. presidential election.
RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and deputy editor-in-chief Elizaveta Brodskaia were sanctioned. The U.S. Treasury Department said Simonyan and others affiliated with the network covertly recruited social media influencers to sway U.S. public opinion and spread pro-Kremlin messages.
7. China’s Xi Promises $50 Billion For Africa Over Next Three Years – AFP
The Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s pledge came with the promise to deepen cooperation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed Beijing’s biggest summit since the pandemic.
According to state media, more than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary-General António Guterres are attending this week’s China-Africa forum. Xi hailed ties with the African continent as their “best period in history.”
8. China To Students: Beware Of ‘Beautiful’ Foreign Spies – AFP
China’s state security agency warned students with access to sensitive information against falling for “handsome men” or “beautiful women” that might entice them to spy for foreign powers.
Beijing’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has promoted claims that foreign spies are working to lure loyal Chinese to betray their country — often in lurid and unusual ways — since opening a WeChat account last year. It accused foreign intelligence agencies of deploying “romance traps” to lure Chinese students.
9. Europe Reliant On Chinese Drugs After Local Products Priced Out – Nikkei Asia
Paris-listed pharmaceutical manufacturer Euroapi is phasing out production of 13 medical ingredients, leaving Europe dependent on cheaper Chinese imports for its most commonly used drugs, such as paracetamol.
As part of the pullback, Euroapi will sell its manufacturing plants in Brindisi, Italy, and Haverhill, England, by the end of 2027. A spokesperson said the moves were necessary because of “decreasing or stagnant markets and increasing competition from Asian players.”
10. As China’s Economy Slows, Obesity Rates Surge – Reuters
Job stress, long work hours, and poor diets are growing high-risk factors in the cities, while in rural areas, agriculture work is becoming less physically demanding, and inadequate healthcare is leading to poor screening and treatment of weight problems, doctors and academics say.
China is facing a twin challenge that feeds its weight problem: In a modernizing economy underpinned by technological innovation, more jobs have become static or desk-bound, while a prolonged slowdown in growth is forcing people to adopt cheaper, unhealthy diets.
11. Volvo Gives Up Plan To Sell Only EVs By 2030 – BBC
Car company Volvo has announced it has abandoned its target to produce only fully electric cars by 2030, saying it now expects it will also be selling some hybrid vehicles by that date.
The carmaker blamed changing market conditions for giving up a target announced only three years ago. The industry faces a slowdown in demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in some major markets and uncertainty due to the imposition of trade tariffs on EVs made in China.
12. Biden Set To Block Nippon Steel’s Acquisition Of U.S. Steel: Reports – Kyodo News
Media reports said President Joe Biden is set to block Nippon Steel Corp.’s plan to acquire United States Steel Corp. on national security grounds.
It would be a rare rejection of a proposed buyout by a company from Japan, a key U.S. ally. With votes from blue-collar workers seen as critical in the U.S. presidential election, both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have voiced opposition to the takeover plan, without providing a detailed rationale.
13. South Korea, U.S. Not Ruling Out Possibility Of Major N. Korean Provocations Near U.S. Election – Yonhap
South Korea and the United States are not ruling out the possibility of North Korea conducting major provocations, like a nuclear test and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch, near the U.S. presidential election in November, Seoul officials said.
Seoul officials said that at this week’s gathering, the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) participants had their first discussions based on scenarios of North Korean nuclear threats to explore effective diplomatic and defense measures to counter the threats.
14. North Korea May Have Executed Officials Over Flood Damage: Spy Agency – RFA
North Korea is suspected of executing a number of officials held responsible for devastating floods this year, and South Korea’s spy agency said.
The agency’s announcement came a day after a South Korean broadcaster reported that up to 30 officials in flood-hit regions of North Korea had been shot to death. Heavy rains in July flooded large areas along the Amnok River, with some South Korean media outlets reporting that more than 1,000 people were killed or were missing.
15. Study: People Who Cope, Adapt Fare Better In Old Age – HealthDay News
A new study shows that people coping with challenges as they age are more likely to live longer.
Seniors with higher levels of mental resilience are 53% less likely to die within the next 10 years than those with the lowest levels, researchers found. Even with chronic health problems or an unhealthy lifestyle, people with high mental resilience remained 46% and 38% less likely to die within ten years than those with the least fortitude.
Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
