Vice President Kamala Harris campaigning with former Representative Liz Cheney cost her enthusiasm among a key voter group in the presidential race, according to a newly released poll.
Democrats have spent the past few weeks doing a postmortem on Harris’ campaign after she lost every key battleground state to Donald Trump, who is now set to return to the White House come January. Moderates argue she was unable to shake off her more liberal issues, while progressive Democrats say running to the center, as well as backlash over the Biden administration’s support for Israel, dampened her chances of victory.
A new survey from left-leaning pollster Data for Progress suggested Harris’ decision to appear with Cheney didn’t play well among independent voters in two key swing states she narrowly lost.
The poll found that more independent voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania said they were “less enthusiastic” to vote for Harris after she campaigned alongside Cheney, a Republican who represented Wyoming in Congress before losing to a Trump-backed primary challenger in 2022.
In Pennsylvania, only 21 percent of independents said Harris campaigning with Cheney made them more enthusiastic to vote for Harris, while 28 percent said Cheney made them “less enthusiastic to vote for Harris.
In Michigan, 23 percent of independents said campaigning with Cheney made them more enthusiastic to vote for Harris, while 30 percent said they were less excited to vote for her after she rallied with Cheney.
Most independents in both states, however, didn’t care much either way—50 percent of independents in Pennsylvania and 46 percent in Michigan said Cheney had no impact at all on their enthusiasm.
The poll surveyed 901 likely Pennsylvania voters and 799 likely Michigan voters from November 1 to November 4, though the poll numbers were only released on Friday.
Newsweek reached out to Harris’ team for comment via email.
The Harris campaign hoped that appearing with Cheney, who had become a leading anti-Trump voice in the GOP after she served on the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building, would bolster her image among independents and anti-Trump Republicans.
Some political experts warned in the weeks leading up to the campaign that Harris campaigning with Cheney could damage her image among Muslim voters in the two key states. Democrats were already seeing warning signs in their polling numbers for Muslim voters, who were outraged over President Joe Biden‘s support for Israel.
Biden has stood by Israel after Hamas‘ October 7, 2023 attack on the southern part of the country, killing about 1,200 people, and in their subsequent offensive in Gaza, which has sparked humanitarian concerns over civilian deaths. More than 44,000 people have died in Gaza, the Associated Press reported, citing the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Trump ended up carrying both Michigan and Pennsylvania. He won Michigan by about 1.4 points and Pennsylvania by about 1.7 points, according to The New York Times.
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