It's not the economy, stupid: Why Kamala Harris should focus on everything else

When Kamala Harris sat down for her first interview since Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign, the initial subject she chose to discuss was her economic agenda. The latest ABC/Washington Post/Ipsos poll highlights an enormous turnaround on the question of which candidate has the physical health to serve as president, for example, with Harris enjoying a 56 to 26 percent advantage just one month after the July edition of the same poll had Trump leading Biden by 44 to 13 percent. Harris has erased Trump’s previous 34-point margin with regard to “strong enthusiasm” among supporters, with both sides now sporting a dead-even 60% mark. Aside from a single outlier in March of 2005, the very first time that “excellent/good” cracked 38% of respondents also happened to be the first time that CNBC asked the question after Trump took office. We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's original commentary and analysis In other words, regardless of whatever economic statistics Harris or Biden or any other Democrat might throw out there, CNBC’s records strongly imply that no amount of attempted persuasion will convince voters that they feel better about the economy now than they did during the Trump administration — because, well, they don’t.