Kamala Harris Tanks an Almost Unbelievable 13 Points in Latest Iowa Poll
California Sen. Kamala Harris is fading fast in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race, according to recent polling.
Back in June, Harris’ campaign was riding high after her debate performance.
A Suffolk University/USA Today poll conducted around the time showed Harris with 16 percent support in Iowa, whose citizens will cast the nation’s first votes for their favored presidential candidate.
Fast forward more than three months, and Harris has just a tiny fraction of that support.
According to the results of a Suffolk/USA Today poll conducted earlier this month, Harris has just 3 percent support in the state.
Harris came in fifth place in that poll, behind former Vice President Joe Biden (18 percent support), Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (17 percent), South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (13 percent) and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (9 percent).
The California Democrat had the same amount of support as three long-shot candidates: liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Since last poll…
Biden: 18% (-6)
Warren: 17% (+4)
Buttigieg: 13% (+7)
Sanders: 9% (-)
Harris: 3% (-13)https://t.co/XOEc0SDxHB— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 21, 2019
And the poll does not appear to be an outlier.
Two other surveys conducted this month in Iowa showed Harris with 2 percent and 5 percent support, respectively, according to RealClearPolitics.
These certainly can’t be the results Harris wants to see, particularly considering that she’s betting a lot on a strong finish in the Iowa caucuses.
Last month, Harris was even overheard joking to Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono that she was “f—ing moving to Iowa.”
So what’s gone wrong for Harris?
Harris “has had trouble stringing together individual moments and converting them into sustained support, and interviews with voters at a series of campaign events in Nevada revealed that even some who planned to vote for her were yearning to see a clearer and more consistent expression of her political vision,” The New York Times reported earlier this month.
The Times also pointed out “a schism between those who think Ms. Harris’s summer struggles were a temporary dip caused by her relative absence on the campaign trail, and those who believe something more fundamental is at play — that her catchall ideology is a mismatch for a political moment defined by clear progressives like Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders and moderates like Mr. Biden.”
Many of the donors who appeared to favor Harris have also switched their allegiance over to Buttigieg.
That might explain why Harris raised just $11.7 million in the third quarter, compared to $19.1 million for Buttigieg.
Nationwide, the polling isn’t looking much better for Harris.
She’s currently in fifth place among the Democratic candidates, with 5.3 percent support, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
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