Democrats, Still Using the Same Playbook, Turn to Obama

Starting in Pittsburgh on Thursday, October 10, former President Barack Obama will travel the country to stump on behalf of Kamala Harris. This was expected. It's far from an October surprise. At the Democratic National Convention in August, Obama said he was passing the torch to the VP and that she would continue the political movement he started nearly two decades ago. But how many really want to relive the Obama years? Didn’t myriad Americans – who had voted to elect Obama in 2008 and 2012 – abandon Democrats in 2016 and vote for Donald Trump? Regardless, Obama is typically well-received, especially among progressives. One wonders, though, whether the former two-term president will affect undecided voters during these final 27 days or if he’ll only be performing for loyal democrats, repurposing old slogans.

Will Obama’s Hope Change Undecided Minds?

No doubt, Barack Obama is a popular man. He's favored by 57% of American adults, according to YouGov. And 53% say they would likely vote for him if he were on the ballot in 2024. Be that as it may, Obama is not running for president. Vice President Kamala Harris is, and her road to the Resolute Desk seems clogged with question marks. It is probably difficult to advocate for a woman who promises a new way forward when she is the sitting vice president of an administration that the majority of Americans believe has put the US on the wrong track, according to a poll by The Economist/YouGov. Asked if she would have done anything differently than President Biden during the last four years, Harris recently told The View she would not change a thing and proudly admitted the president has included her in most decisions.

Still, Obama will likely promote Harris under his tattered umbrella of hope and change. Though he is “a popular figure, certainly in the Democratic Party, [and] there is excitement around him … he’s also the past,” said Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett to The New York Sun. “People are looking towards the future of the country. This is talk of yesterdays when this election is going to be about tomorrows.”

The battleground states are basically toss-ups at this point, provided the polling numbers are anywhere near accurate, but with Trump on the ballot, who knows how reliable those numbers are? The race might not be as close as it appears. Harris supposedly has a one-point lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, the state where Obama will kick off his stump tour. He will undoubtedly energize the Democratic base and maybe even give them hope, but those are not the voters who will decide this election’s outcome.

“I don’t think it will move the needle with undecideds,” said Marc Lotter, a former communications director for President Trump’s campaign, in an interview with CNN. “They tried this in 2016 when he [Obama] was still the sitting president, it wasn’t successful … [and] nearly two-thirds of the American people still think our country’s headed down the wrong track. So going out there and saying that Kamala’s the new way forward? Well she’s the way of right now – difficult to sell.”

One thing that both Bartlett and Lotter are missing, though, is that many Americans seem to vehemently dislike both candidates, according to a survey conducted by The New York Times. So, numerous people who typically vote could skip this election. The top concerns that undecided voters have about Kamala Harris are honesty, trustworthiness, character, and judgment. One woman told The Times that Harris is “incompetent,” has “no experience in foreign policy or running the government … [and] has no opinions except on abortion.” Another woman called the VP a “liar” and said, “[I]t feels like she hasn’t done anything she said she was going to do.”

Can Obama convince undecided voters the VP is shrewd, reliable, and trustworthy? Can his oratory prowess make them believe the woman partly responsible for the nation's current state can lead the country to brighter days? Maybe. But will his words reach undecided Americans or only entertain the Left’s dedicated subscribers?