Vice President Kamala Harris gained a great deal of momentum when she accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party during the Democratic National Convention held in Chicago from August 19-22. She made history by being the first Black woman and the first South Asian woman to be offered the nomination of a major party in the United States for the president’s office. While she entered the race in very unusual circumstances, she has been leading in the polls by a slim margin versus former President Donald Trump. She has stirred a lot of excitement and enthusiasm in her party after the weak performance of President Biden in his debate against Trump. However, many serious challenges remain in her path to winning the election.
Her ascendancy could be thwarted by the counterattack that President Trump has been launching against her. After she finished her speech, President Trump called the two conservative channels Fox News and Newsmax to reflect on his thoughts on what candidate Kamala Harris said. She told them, “I personally thought it was a terrible speech. It was very nonspecific. It was also very short. She just wanted to get off the stage, because her ideas are bad.” Afterwards, the ex-president posted on his social platform Truth Social “IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?” Trump hit more scathing criticism against Harris writing, “Too many ‘Thank yous,’ too rapidly said, what’s going on with her?” He posted as she went to the podium, “A lot of talk about childhood, we’ve got to get to the Border, Inflation, and Crime!” This indicates that Trump and Vance plan a strong rebuttal of everything that Harris and Walz will direct against them. Harris told the convention that there are dangerous consequences of a Trump presidency. She also accused him of plotting the violence at Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. Obviously, the campaign for U.S. President in 2024 will be dominated by harsh personal attacks between the two candidates, although Trump has also a chance to describe Joe Biden as a failed president whose deficient legacy is associated with the inferior record of Kamala Harris.
The second hurdle that Kamala Harris confronts is whether she will maintain her post-convention bounce or not. Typical of presidential politics in America, presidential candidates usually receive a polling “bounce” consequent to the conclusions of national conventions. However, political experts also refer to post-convention bumps on the road of candidates to the White House. Definitely, the last few weeks since President Biden withdrew from the presidential campaign has seen a surge. But that post-convention sway could be attributed to the backing of the Democratic leadership of Harris and not as a grassroots movement centered at DNC and that has been pushing her for the nomination. In addition, many foreign policy crises loom large especially in the Middle East. No analyst can predict whether there will be a war between Israel and Iran or not. And if such a war takes places, it could have adversarial strategic repercussions on American national security. Moreover, terror acts could be executed against many American targets inside and outside the U.S. This could diminish the perception by the voters of Kamala Harris as a potential commander in chief capable of being a commander of American troops and military.
The third challenge is the ability of Harris to reach out to many non-Democratic voters. Harris said that she is the presidential nominee ‘on behalf of the people.’ As well, she promised to be to a “president for all Americans.” This appeal may resonate well with many independent voters and many Republicans who oppose President Trump. However, in less than 24 hours, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., terminated his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. This will make Harris job more complicated winning over independents because early assessments of how Kennedy’s supporters will vote reveal that more of them will cast their ballots in favor of Trump and not Harris.
The fourth obstacle defying Harris’ popularity at the Democratic National Convention is the need for her to offer more details on what she said. In her 39-minute speech, she pledged to solve the housing crisis, to protect Social Security, and pass a middle-class tax cut that will ease the tax burden on 100 million Americans. She also promised to reform the Supreme Court and uphold women’s rights to have abortion. She also assured the nation that she will secure the United States border with Mexico. On defense and foreign policy she guaranteed that America will have “the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.” She added that, “America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century and that we strengthen, not abdicate, our global leadership.” On Gaza she acknowledged the horrible suffering of the Palestinians. Nevertheless, she stopped short of declaring her intention to approve of the establishment of a Palestinian state. Again, there is dearth of information on her behalf about what steps and policies she will implement to achieve these objectives. Kamala Harris does not grant media interviews and has not held any press conference so far. This could weaken her credibility because there will be a big dichotomy between her promises to initiate so much change in America, but her attitude is one of remaining silent on the details of how to deliver on these promises.
Finally, the most important question for Harris is how she will maintain her party’s unity. Protesters were in Chicago denouncing the war in Gaza. This looks like a growing pressure on her to end the war. Neither Biden nor Harris has offered any plan to end Israel’s aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza. She always dwells on her family story. Decrying the war is not the same thing as ending the war. A political observer could predict that the protest movement inside the Democratic Party might grow and its adherents may decide to withhold their endorsement of Harris. This means that a big segment of Democratic voters who are dismayed by the Gaza War will make their threats real and will not vote for Harris. If there are voters blaming her for the Gaza War, Kamala Harris will squander the party unity that she won at the convention of the Democratic Party meeting in Chicago, and her opportunities for becoming the 47th President of the United States will be gone. Capping the support of party delegates at a party convention is different than having that party members subsist in their loyalty to the party’s candidate on Election Day.
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