Current polls actually should give Harris backers reason to worry about her chances: Dem strategist

Vice President Kamala Harris’ rise to the top of the Democratic ticket has generated momentum in the polls for the party, but some experts aren’t convinced by her new lead.

"If the polling errors are anywhere close to what they were in 2016 and 2020, then Trump is in the lead right now," Democrat strategist Julian Epstein told Fox News Digital.

The comments come as the Real Clear Politics polling average shows Harris with a slim 1.5 point lead over former President Trump nationally, a significant shift from the three-point lead Trump held over Biden the day before the president dropped out of the race.

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But the Harris lead is also a much smaller gap than Trump faced at the same time in 2016 and 2020, when the Republican nominee trailed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 6 points and Biden by 7.1.

While Trump won in 2016 and failed to win re-election in 2020, the former president greatly outperformed his polling numbers in two close elections, a fact that is not lost on Democrats heading into the stretch run of 2024.

According to a report from Politico last week, recent polls conducted by Democratic firms that show Harris in the lead also contain warning signs, including leads for Trump in characteristics more likely to sway voters. Harris is also essentially tied with Trump across the battleground states, the polls show, meaning the vice president is underperforming her national numbers in states set to decide the election.

"It’s still a very tough race, and that feels consistent with everything we know," said Margie Omero, a partner at the Democratic polling firm GBAO Strategies, told Politico.

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Democratic pollsters also fear the prospect of another polling error, even though several of the party’s top firms got together in an attempt to diagnose the problem after 2020.

"I spent a ton of time and analysis trying to dig into those problems. And I feel much better educated about those problems," Nick Gourevitch, a partner at Global Strategy Group who participated in the Democratic "polling autopsy," told Politico. "I don’t think there’s any pollster in America who can sit here and say… that they’re 100% sure that they fixed any issues in polling. I think that would be silly."

That reality is not lost on Democratic pollsters, who have urged caution despite Harris’ quick rise over the last several weeks.

"Every year, we’ve had different curveballs. This is a difficult industry," John Anzalone, the lead pollster on Biden’s 2020 campaign, told Politico. "Something’s gonna happen in 2024. You and I, right now, don’t know what that is."

Meanwhile, Epstein sees several reasons for Democrats to worry, pointing out that Harris is still "underperforming in the Rust Belt battleground by significant numbers" and "with working class voters and Black voters."

"The idea that Harris doesn’t have to specify policy or go before the news media is a strategy born of conceit and foolhardiness and will ultimately backfire," Epstein added.

Charlamagne says Harris needs to answer questions from voters: Black people shouldn't have to 'just settle'

Radio host Charlamagne Tha God scolded a rapper who claimed Vice President Harris didn't owe Black voters an explanation of her policies, arguing it was "absolutely" wrong to tell Black people to "settle" for the Democratic candidate.

"I don't understand Plies or any Black person for that matter, telling Black people to ‘just settle.’ 'Just accept whatever the candidate is giving you. Don't ask questions, just vote. They don't have to explain anything to us.' No," Charlamagne said on Monday's "The Breakfast Club.

Charlamagne was responding to a profanity-laced rant the rapper known as Plies posted online on Sunday about Black men supporting former President Trump in the election. Plies slammed these voters for criticizing Harris' record in office and argued Harris didn't need to answer questions about her policies. 

"Stop asking" a "Black woman to explain theirself to you, or explain theirself to y'all," the rapper chided. "Y'all cool with a White man not explaining himself" he continued, appearing to reference Trump.

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"Plies is absolutely, positively wrong," Charlamagne responded on his podcast and radio show the next day. "If people are asking questions, that's great."

"I don't even know why Plies is making this a Black woman vs. Black men thing. This isn't about Black men and Black women. It's about elected officials and potential voters," he continued. 

"The whole point of the campaign season is for candidates to go out there and explain to the American people why they should be the one in charge of this country. Votes are earned, not given. And they are earned by you going out there and explaining yourself."

The vice president has faced criticism for avoiding the press since she launched her presidential campaign. She has not done any sit-down interviews or held any formal press conferences in the past 36 days.

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Charlamagne argued that Harris is under more scrutiny about her policies because she became the Democratic nominee so late in the election cycle and because she is running for the highest office in the country. 

"By the way, she knows that. This isn't the vice president's first rodeo," he said of explaining her record as attorney general and as a senator.

"Plies is a billion percent wrong," he stated again. Answering questions to voters is "the whole point of campaigning," he added.

During the Democratic National Convention last week, Charlamagne defended Harris for avoiding the press for now, arguing she was on the ground meeting voters and she'd get to interviews by the end of the month.

"I think what she's been doing has worked because you know what she's been doing is hitting the ground," he said.

"She'll get to interviews after the DNC. But, you know, this week I think she got – she's got bigger fish to fry, like going out there tomorrow and knocking a home run speech out the park," he continued.

Other media figures have celebrated Harris' strategy of not taking interviews.

Last week, several pundits and news anchors from CNN and CBS floated the idea that Harris could rely on Democratic enthusiasm to win over voters rather than lay out detailed policies. 

Fox News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.