A new poll released by Boston University suggests that the Democratic National Convention hurt former President Donald Trump’s image among independent voters but did not promote a positive image of Vice President Kamala Harris.
The poll may help to explain why Harris did not enjoy a polling “bump” after the convention, despite glowing media coverage. The message was anti-Trump, but not pro-Kamala, despite all of the talk about renewed “joy” among the delegates.
A press release from BU noted that while the results suggested Democrats had successfully emphasized Trump’s negative attributes for voters, the convention had not succeeded in associating her with positive attributes:
“The changes we are seeing, pre- and post-DNC in how Independents perceive Donald Trump is quite staggering,” said Anne Danehy, a former pollster and associate professor of the practice teaching political campaigns at Boston University’s College of Communication. “The Democratic National Convention did a good job of cutting into Trump’s image, but those positive images were not transferred to Harris.”
Danehy added: “The Harris-Walz campaign must be strategic to move the Independents into Harris-Walz voters. Independents need a reason to vote for the Harris-Walz ticket, other than just anti-Trump. If they fail to do so, these disenchanted Independents may stay home on election day.”
The online poll, conducted among 1,005 American adults both before and after the convention last month in Chicago, Illinois, had a margin of error (“credibility interval”) of 3.5%.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
