A Letter of Advice for the DNC and Vice President Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a DNC event rallying for reproductive rights at Howard University on April 26, 2023. Photo courtesy of The Democratic Party.

Dear Leaders of the Democratic National Convention and Vice President Harris,

With President Biden bowing out of the race, he has given the party, and your presidential campaign, a much-needed opportunity to revamp your case to the voters this November, across all races and at all levels of government. Campaigns by the party for Congress, governorships, and the presidency have been and continue to be laser-focused on one priority: defeating Donald Trump. Your 2024 platform makes that clear by mentioning Mr. Trump by name 150 times, a surprisingly high number for a party that loathes him. But, that strategy seems to only embolden his supporters, with increased media coverage on events such as his recent conviction in New York boosting his poll numbers among GOP voters. Furthermore, attention afforded to the assassination attempt on Mr. Trump has aggravated the media’s focus on his campaign. In an election where voter turnout is crucial to deciding who wins the presidency, centering the campaign platform on Mr. Trump is the exact opposite strategy the party should take. Indeed, you must take this opportunity to re-center your policies and what you can offer Americans to win moderate voters over this November.

As the face of the party this election, Harris proves crucial to this new strategy. Though Biden was an unpopular candidate, his legislative achievements and your proposed policies remain far more popular across the political spectrum than the GOP’s platform. According to one experiment, where voters across the political spectrum were presented with policies without Biden’s name and thus no age liability attached to them, voters significantly approved of Democratic proposals such as requiring background checks for gun purchases, expanding antitrust enforcement against big tech, and increasing federal funding for affordable housing. Even supporters of former President Trump firmly supported key policies, like stronger gun background checks. Among independent voters, the Democratic platform is even more popular. Mr. Trump’s policies, by contrast, are more divisive among this critical voting bloc. For instance, his proposed cutting of U.S. aid to Ukraine and withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords command only 40 and 31% support among independents, respectively. 

In addition to the party’s proposed policies, existing policies enacted under the Biden administration remain widely popular as well, even as Biden’s personal approval rating has plummeted. The Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act, passed in 2021, maintains popular support among Americans, with 65% approval overall, and more importantly, 52% approval among independents and 43% of Republicans. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), also remains popular, with 65% of Americans supporting the expanded tax credits for solar panels funded by the legislation, among other popular provisions.

Despite broad support for Biden’s legislative accomplishments, not enough voters know that it was the Democratic Party that championed these victories. For instance, since the passage of the IRA, 71% of Americans report knowing “little or nothing” about the law, underscoring the administration and party’s collective failure to market their policies to the American people. Furthermore, polling found that only 32% of undecided voters knew what Mr. Biden’s policies were, in comparison to the 47% that knew those of Mr. Trump. The serious disparity in support between Biden’s personal approval rating and approval of his enacted laws and proposed policies means that his dropping out of the race offers the Democratic Party a golden opportunity to tout their agenda with Vice President Harris at the top of the ticket. With Ms. Harris now at the top of the ticket, Biden’s liabilities of age and unpopularity no longer worry the party because they don’t carry over to the Vice President, and Ms. Harris enjoys much higher approval ratings than Mr. Biden. Now, the party is faced with a single issue: marketing the Democratic platform and winning the election.

Under a Harris administration, the Democrats’ popular policies could be expanded further. A more progressive candidate than Biden, Harris’s Senate and previous campaign platforms have advocated for rent relief tax credits, emergency funding for the homeless, and $100 billion in community assistance to people unable to secure home loans. On the big tech antitrust front, Ms. Harris is even more progressive. As the former Attorney General of California, she reached an agreement with large tech giants, including Apple and Google, requiring that apps sold in their digital app stores and running on their mobile software abide by strict privacy policies. She also advanced climate policies by holding large oil companies liable for improperly disposing hazardous waste. By emphasizing this prosecutorial experience, she can legitimize her campaign’s push for popular big-tech antitrust policy and climate policy. 

Hence, if Ms. Harris forcefully markets Democratic policies with her more cohesive and less inflammatory rhetoric than her opponent, she can mirror Trump’s fierce campaign style. 

Ms. Harris has an extraordinary opportunity to energize her voters. Her debate performance rivals that of a younger President Barack Obama in 2008 or President John F. Kennedy in 1960, with her experience as a prosecutor making her a seasoned orator. In the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate, Ms. Harris was forceful in pushing back on then-Vice President Mike Pence’s attacks. At one point, when Mr. Pence interrupted Ms. Harris, she retorted forcefully, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking. I’m speaking.” Her forceful counter to Mr. Pence’s attempts to silence her on the debate stage shows she is a capable debater. 

Let’s not forget, either, how Ms. Harris was undaunted to ruffle feathers with then-candidate Biden in 2020 on the debate stage, reminding Democrats how Mr. Biden opposed busing for integrated public schools as a senator. This star moment pitted her against the establishment that Mr. Biden represented, as she delivered a political, generational, and personal critique of his more moderate policies on race and immigration.

Debatewise, perhaps Harris’s greatest liability has been her inability to explicitly platform a political agenda that walks the fine line between the progressive and moderate wings of her party. This election cycle, Ms. Harris must use her strong delivery skills to champion a platform that consolidates the Democrats and courts independent voters. With substantial public approval for Democratic policies, the image of Harris as a reasonable prosecutor who holds corporations accountable might give her enough of a boost to become the favorite candidate in November.

With Vice President Harris holding more progressive positions on popular bipartisan policies, she is a younger candidate who can energize voters by underscoring bipartisan public support for legislation spearheaded by a Democratic administration without the drawbacks of President Biden’s former campaign. Ms. Harris’s policies can consolidate liberals and moderates into supporting her ticket, but only happen if the DNC and Vice President Harris choose to positively market their platform over the next few months, rather than lean exclusively into the anti-Trump rhetoric that has dominated the airwaves since 2015.

Signed,

Andrew Chung

Andrew Chung is a sophomore studying computer science and chemistry. When not writing for CPR, he writes for the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review and the Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal. He can be reached at andrew.chung@columbia.edu.