Final messaging of Trump and Harris are polar opposites: looking forward versus back

In the campaign’s final days, former President Donald Trump is campaigning on a vision for the nation’s future while Vice President Kamala Harris seems to be looking back four years to rehash Democratic grievances over his election challenge, and reverting from a campaign based on "joy" to calling Trump and his supporters "fascists" and even "Nazis."

Harris held a rally Tuesday on The Ellipse, the same site where Trump delivered his own address on Jan. 6, 2021, which Democrats have characterized as an attempt to incite an "insurrection." During her speech, Harris recalled Trump’s time in office and called on voters to “turn the page” on the era of his political ubiquity.

She further painted Trump as a purveyor of division, recalling his remarks about “the enemy within,” and urged Americans to “turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and division [...] It is time for a new generation of leadership in America,” she said, warning that Trump would walk into the Oval Office with an “enemies list.”

Her speech followed years of Democrats labeling Trump a “threat to Democracy” and a “fascist” and came amid media outcry over his Madison Square Garden rally. Legacy media and Democrats alike drew comparisons between Trump’s event and a 1939 Nazi rally held at the same venue. That venue, ignored by mainstream media, was also home to rallies held by Presidents Hoover, Truman and John F. Kennedy, where Marilyn Monroe sang a salacious rendition of "Happy Birthday" to JFK. 

Jan. 6, meanwhile, has long been a focus of the Harris campaign, and featured heavily in events featuring former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who served on the House panel that investigated that incident. Attracting backlash at the Madison Square Garden rally was comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, an insult comic who made a joke about Puerto Rico upon which the Harris campaign and media seized as validation of Trump’s supposed racism and admiration for Adolf Hitler.

The theme of Trump as a fascist and threat to democracy, especially in light of Jan. 6, has essentially become the campaign’s final message to the American voters, but many doubt that it will resonate with the electorate.

In a recent Emerson College survey, 45.2% of respondents said that the economy was the most important issue of the election compared to only 13.7% who chose “threats to democracy” as a most salient issue. A further 14.4% chose immigration and 7.2% picked abortion access. Healthcare rounded out the top five with 5.9%.

It's the economy

A CBS survey, however, suggests that “democracy” may be more than just a minority issue, albeit one that doesn’t split on partisan lines. Seventy-one percent of respondents identified “the state of democracy” as a “major factor” in their vote. But the economy again overshadowed the issue as 84% labeled it a “major factor” and 76% said the same of “inflation” on its own.

Trump, for his part, has heavily emphasized economic concerns in the final push, even debuting a new proposal during his Sunday rally to provide a new tax credit for family members taking care of parents or other relatives.

“[W]hat Trump's overall closing message has been, which if you look at what he's saying and you look at his paid ads… it's really mostly about the economy and about immigration and about how we can have a more optimistic future in America.” CNN’s Scott Jennings said amid media furor over Hinchcliffe..

In a press conference on Tuesday, the former president said that Harris had opted to double down on the Nazi narrative and continue to focus on Jan. 6 because “her record is horrible” and she can’t focus on the issues that matter to Americans because of it.

"I'm running on a plan to save America," Trump said during a Tuesday press conference. "It's going to be saving it from the incredible destruction that's been caused by crooked Joe Biden and Kamala."

“So when Kamala Harris was doing the CNN town hall last week, and she was asked a question that might be about Hitler or January 6, I understand if she includes in her answer something about Hitler on January 6,” said former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast. “But when you get asked questions about the economy and the border and you're still answering about Hitler and January 6, you don't deserve to win, because … you're being handed what should be a softball question.”

“You should walk into that town hall. You should walk into that town hall hungry to answer it. ‘Oh my gosh. I can't wait until they ask about the economy, because I'm so proud of my record and I'm so proud of my ideas that I can't wait to tell people everything that we're working on.’ Instead, when you actually get to that point of a town hall or an interview, Kamala Harris is, you know, she still is like, oh my gosh, let me figure out how to answer this in some word salad. It's about Hitler and January 6. It doesn't work.”

In the meantime, there is little to suggest that Harris’s messaging or outrage at Hinchcliffe’s jokes have moved the needle in her favor.

Polymarket betting odds currently favor Trump to win the presidency over Harris by a 66.9% to 33.1% margin. The current figure represents an increase in Trump’s odds since Sunday and marks his highest odds against Harris in months. He also currently leads Harris in the RealClearPolitics polling average by 0.4%. At the state level, Trump currently leads in every swing state, save Michigan, a modest decline from his recent high that had him winning every key battleground.