Pollster Frank Luntz argued last week that Donald Trump can sink Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign with just 10 words.
Thanks to a boost from the media, Harris has gained significant ground on Trump in the two weeks since she became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee without having earned a single primary vote.
‘How many times have campaigns come down to, as Ronald Reagan said, ‘Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
But that momentum could grind to a halt, according to Luntz, if Trump focuses on one basic question.
“Can you name one thing she did as vice president? And leave it at that,” Luntz told KTTV-TV of the question he should pose to voters.
“Can you name one thing she accomplished as vice president? Ten words,” he reiterated.
From Luntz’s perspective, it’s not beneficial for Trump to attack Harris.
Rather, the Republican pollster argued that voters prefer “accountability” to attacks, which is why the 10-word question is powerful: It forces voters to wrestle with Harris’ accomplishments — or lack thereof.
“It’s a legit criticism. She was No. 2 in the country and given the responsibility for immigration. Now, I’m going to upset the other side. How is her immigration working out?” Luntz said. “How successful has she been? What else did Joe Biden task her to do?”
“In our lifetime, we’ve seen Dick Cheney — who was arguably as powerful as the president, a vice president — and Joe Biden, when he was vice president, had specific responsibilities under the Obama administration,” he continued. “She did nothing.”
Republican strategists and lawmakers are offering Trump similar advice: Stick to the issues.
The election will likely be decided by a relatively small number of undecided voters in a handful of key battleground states. Those voters care about real solutions, and they care about a candidate’s record.
If Trump sticks to promoting his plan for the economy, immigration, and foreign policy, there is a good chance he wins in November. His record, after all, stands in stark contrast to the Biden-Harris record.
Mark Campbell, a Republican strategist who ran Glenn Youngkin’s winning gubernatorial campaign in 2021, also believes the race could come down to a single question — one voters have to ask for themselves.
“How many times have campaigns come down to, as Ronald Reagan said, ‘Are you better off now than you were four years ago?’ This year, the answer is a resounding no,” he told the Associated Press.
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