MSNBC reporter Steve Kornacki stated on Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris had more pathways to secure the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidential election compared to President Joe Biden.
Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday, a little over a month after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed her on July 21.
Kornacki noted that Harris’s stronger support among Black, Hispanic, and young voters provided her with opportunities to compete in key battleground states like North Carolina, Nevada, and Arizona against former President Donald Trump.
“As Joe Biden was getting out of the race, this is what the polling was showing. He was down three points on average against Donald Trump. Now, about a month of Kamala Harris as the new democratic candidate, on average Harris up two. So, from Democrats down three to Democrats up two,” Kornacki told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell. “What is behind that move forward for Harris in the polling? Three groups in particular where she’s performed exceptionally better than Biden had been performing, and they are voters who Democrats have in the past relied on that Biden had been lagging with. Black voters, Harris is running eight points better on average than Biden. Hispanic voters, 10 points better than Biden. Young voters under 30, Harris [is] 11 points better than Biden.”
MSNBC's Steve Kornacki Claims Harris Provides 'More Paths For Democrats' To Win pic.twitter.com/U3tzub6EBm
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 23, 2024
According to a CBS poll released on Sunday, Trump received support from 17% of Black voters, while a Fox News poll from August 14 showed him with 26% of the Black vote.
These figures are significantly higher than the 12% support he received from Black voters in a CNN exit poll during the 2020 election. Additionally, a Morning Consult poll, as reported by Newsweek, found that more than one in five Black voters indicated they were backing Trump.
All of the “Walz is the guy who will bring back rural voters” and he “reads moderate” are wish-casting. There’s no data to support it. Just the opposite. Don’t take my word for it. Steve Kornacki lays it out.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) August 8, 2024
“What would that translate into in terms of this road to 270 map that we’re going to be returning to so much between now and November?” Kornacki said.
Kornacki pointed out that the number of battleground states had grown due to Harris’s improved polling performance.
“There’s North Carolina, Democrats have been talking all year about trying to make this a battleground. They were talking about that when Biden was the candidate, but now with Harris as the candidate, partly due to the improvement in black support that you see in the polls there, North Carolina, there’s been a couple polls showing a dead even race, maybe even Harris ahead very, very slightly in the polling there. Suddenly, you could put North Carolina in that battleground,” Kornacki said.
