Media impressed by Kamala’s rehearsed responses, but failed to sway voters
Oftentimes there’s a decided, night-and-day gap between the media’s idea of public perception and actual public perception when it comes to Donald Trump: Just think back to the 2016 campaign.
After Tuesday’s big debate in Philadelphia between the former president and Kamala Harris, we may be looking at another big disconnect between the press and the public.
“Harris Dominates as Trump Gets Defensive” was the lead headline in The New York Times.
“Harris dominated Trump in debate, but will it matter?” was The Washington Post’s take.
Along with “dominating,” Kamala also “commanded” the debate, according to MSNBC’s John Heileman, the aforementioned Times and California Gov. Gavin Newsom — almost as if a memo with instructions and approved verbiage had gone out.
For Harris to dominate, she needed a big assist from the moderators.
The hopelessly biased David Muir and Linsey Davis obliged and then some, fact-checking Trump five times without correcting the veep even once — despite her repeated lies, as dutifully documented by The Post.
But after the debate, as many in the media swooned over their commanding new queen, a funny thing happened: Polls and focus groups emerged showing her winning on style points, but Trump winning on substance.
A Reuters focus group, for example, tracked 10 undecided voters and asked how they plan to vote after watching the debate.
Six of them said they had chosen to vote for Trump, while just three said Harris’ performance had swayed them. One remained undecided.
Over at C-SPAN, an online poll also showed a decided Trump victory, with close to three-quarters of respondents saying he had won.
Meanwhile, CNN’s post-debate poll showed Trump expanding a big lead on the question of which candidate can handle the economy best. Before Tuesday’s matchup, Trump led by 18 percentage points on this No.1 issue; afterward, it grew to a 20-point margin.
So why the disconnect?
Here’s one theory: Kamala was too rehearsed. Her answers were too canned.
“So I was raised as a middle-class kid,” she said as her first words when answering the moderators’ initial question — a mantra she repeated a few queries later, when again asked directly about the horrible Biden-Harris economy.
“My passion, one of them, is small businesses,” she assured us — another point she made repeatedly, discussing in different answers how she “love[s] our small businesses” and “believe[s] in what we can do to strengthen our small businesses.”
Catch up on The Post’s debate coverage
“Which is why I have a plan,” she proclaimed.
Her plan, she said, is “What I describe as an opportunity economy.”
No specifics fleshed out the platitude, outside of massively increasing spending, which, you know . . . causes inflation.
“You will not hear [Trump] talk about your needs, your dreams, and your desires,” she said in a non-answer on border security. “And I’ll tell you, I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first. And I pledge to you that I will.”
The only people the veep has put first are the more than 12 million unvetted migrants who have entered the country illegally on her watch.
On substance, the public still has no idea how Harris would lower the cost of living, which is far too high for most Americans, thanks to this administration.
We have no idea how she’ll rein in the violent crime that is causing an exodus out of dozens of cities including New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco.
Most sane and sober people don’t believe Harris can secure the border she helped open, leading to mass illegal immigration that is crippling city budgets and exhausting social services.
What is her plan for wars overseas? What is her trade and tariff position with China? Is she for or against fracking? Is she still all-in on government price-fixing?
Does she really think taxing unrealized capital gains is a good idea? Does she think men can get pregnant? Does she still want American taxpayers to pay for sex changes for illegal migrants?
What is your plan, Madam Vice President?
Answer: She doesn’t have one.
This is the Seinfeld candidate — a campaign about nothing.
And no, joy and vibes ain’t a strategy or policy.
In the end, it’s just the Biden clown car with a different coat of paint.
Donald Trump was not at his best Tuesday night, but his closing argument was strong and pointed.
“She just started by saying she’s going to do this, she’s going to do that. She’s going to do all these wonderful things,” Trump stated.
“Why hasn’t she done it? She’s been there for 3½ years.”
That’s exactly right.
Kamala’s sizzle may have wowed the media, but it’s Trump’s steak — and his stellar record as president — that ultimately will matter more to voters.
Joe Concha is the author of “Progressively Worse: Why Today’s Democrats Ain’t Your Daddy’s Donkeys.”
