By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on November 27, 2024
An Editorial Opinion
David Plouffe is a senior adviser to the Kamala Harris presidential campaign. During an interview Tuesday on the “Pod Save America” podcast, Plouffe said the campaign’s internal polling never had Harris ahead of Trump.
Plouffe finally acknowledged what weekly internal polling conducted for my group of California-based independent voter influencers (from late August through the first two weeks in October) revealed to us. Harris trailed Trump nationally and in every battleground state, and the gap between these two candidates was growing in Trump’s favor.
In short, the Harris campaign was doomed.
Armed with our private polling data and other fact-checked information, my group decided to make no endorsement in the race. We also decided to withhold the $75 million campaign contribution we planned to give to either Harris or Trump.
We announced our “no endorsement” decision on October 19, 2024. It was the right decision for our group, considering how Kamala Harris blew through $1.5 billion in a 107-day campaign.
We believe our private polling data was leaked to Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the L.A. Times, and Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post. Days later, both owners surprised their editorial staffs by blocking their newspapers’ planned endorsement of Harris.
Our polling data was correct. Donald Trump won the election by an Electoral College landslide (312 to 226). He also won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.
We always make political decisions based upon high-quality internal polling data and fact-checked candidate records. No one can buy our support or seduce us into taking a doomsday ride with them.
We always make political decisions based upon high-quality internal polling data and fact-checked candidate records. No one can buy our support or seduce us into taking a doomsday ride with them.