Late deciders are more likely to vote for Kamala Harris than Donald Trump because of the way the former president is closing out the election, according to Barack Obama’s former campaign manager David Plouffe.
Plouffe, now a senior adviser on the Harris campaign, claims Trump’s behavior is like “nails on a chalkboard” to undecided women voters, even some Republicans and Independents.
Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he cited several key issues his data shows might turn people towards Harris in the final few days of the 2024 presidential election.
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One of the biggest concerns, he says, is Trump’s declaration that he might put RFK Jr. in charge of the nation’s healthcare.
With polls still showing a close race in the seven so-called battleground states, Plouffe said he is “optimistic” because most predictions suggest a tie of around 48-47 points or 47-47, which is still not considering 100 percent of the vote.
“The question is of the people who have not yet decided who to vote for, who are actually going to vote?” he continued. “And our sense in the last week is that the people who have made up their mind in the last week we’re doing quite well with, and we like the people who have yet to make a decision...”
“It’s very important to look at who those undecideds are,” he added.
Plouffe called the Trump campaign’s derisive comments about women, Jews, Black people, and Puerto Ricans “a terrible way to close a presidential campaign” and insisted they do have an impact this late in the race.
He said he believes Trump had “temper tantrums” in Pennsylvania because he was being “briefed by his team that they don’t like the Pennsylvania numbers.”
Plouffe believes Trump reacts angrily when he is told he is having problems with women voters and that people believe that Trump is emblematic of “chaos and division.”
He said Trump’s suggestion that he will put RFK Jr. in charge of healthcare “greatly worries these few percent of voters who haven’t yet decided to vote.”
Plouffe said people are worried Trump would be “surrounded by the RFK’s of the world” in the White House.
“I think that if I’m surprised by anything on election night, it will be, that differs from the data that we’re all seeing, maybe we do a point or two better with women across the board. They’re obviously more than 50 percent of the vote. We’re seeing they’re turning out in large numbers in early vote, so I think there’s a potential for that, for sure.
“That would be with Independent women voters and with Republican women voters.”
He told the CNN anchor that comments like Trump made about protecting women whether they wanted it or not were “like nails on a chalkboard” for these voters.
In a “final” poll in the Detroit Free Press, Harris is three points up on Trump overall, with a four-point lead with Independents. The poll says her lead has grown among women by 5 points since August and by 18 points with Black voters during the same period.
