Kamala Harris Missed ‘Big Opportunity’ With One Campaign Decision, Polling Expert Says — And It Could Cost Her the Election

Election data savant Nate Silver said over the weekend that Vice President Kamala Harris passed up a “big opportunity” with her choice of running mate, a move which polls indicate could cost the Democrat a crucial swing state.

The FiveThirtyEight founder wrote in his “Silver Bulletin” newsletter Sunday that the 59-year-old “blew one big opportunity to tack to the center with her selection of [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz rather than [Pennsylvania Gov.] Josh Shapiro.”

Silver was responding to a New York Times/Siena College poll which showed nearly half (47%) of likely voters considered Harris too liberal, a reflection of her abortive 2020 presidential campaign in which she staked out several far-left positions.

“[Harris] is a more talented politician than she showed in 2019, and it’s shame that her campaign that year was run by people who seemingly thought Elizabeth Warren was a right-winger,” Silver wrote. “I think Walz was a decent enough pick on his own merits, but given an opportunity to offer a tangible signal of the direction her presidency was headed, [Harris] reverted to 2019 mode.”

The potential selection of Shapiro had triggered backlash from far-left Democrats due to his support for Israel. Many critics said the criticism of the Jewish Shapiro was rooted in antisemitism and Silver wrote Sunday “that a tiny minority of progressives objected to Shapiro was an argument in Shapiro’s favor, if anything.” (Read more from “Kamala Harris Missed ‘Big Opportunity’ With One Campaign Decision, Polling Expert Says — And It Could Cost Her the Election” HERE)