August 14, 2024 10:35 AM UTC

Kamalamentum Continues with New Poll Numbers and Great Economic News

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• by: Colorado Pols

It’s hard to believe that it hasn’t even been a month since President Joe Biden decided to drop his re-election campaign and Vice President Kamala Harris quickly took over as the new Democratic nominee for President. As we’ve noted in this space, the Harris candidacy has changed EVERYTHING about the 2024 election, attracting more than a million new donors and injecting fresh enthusiasm and hope into the hearts and minds of all anti-Donald Trump voters.

As new polling for the Swing State Project shows, Harris has completely flipped the script on Trump and Republicans:

Just last week, the Cook Political Report changed its ratings in three key battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada — from a “Leans Republican” designation to a true “Toss Up” category. As Aaron Blake explains today for The Washington Post, Harris may even be moving ahead of Trump with voters concerned about the economy:

For his entire aborted 2024 reelection campaign, no issues threatened to hamstring President Joe Biden quite as much as the economy and immigration.

The economy is almost always voters’ top issue, and views of Biden’s handling of it were routinely way underwater. Immigration is generally less important in voters’ minds, but a border crisis pushed Biden’s numbers on the issue to historically low levels — to the point where three-fourths of independents and large numbers of Democrats disapproved. One poll early this year showed Americans preferred Donald Trump over Biden on immigration by more than 30 points…

…A new poll this week piqued more than a few people’s interest. It came from the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and it showed that about as many Americans preferred Harris on the economy (42 percent) as preferred Trump (41 percent). Such a finding was previously unthinkable, after many months of the economy dogging Biden. [Pols emphasis]

And there’s even more good news today for Democrats on the economy. From a separate story via The Washington Post:

Inflation dropped in July to its lowest level in three years on an annual basis, setting up the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates soon to take pressure off the economy.

The snapshot was the clearest indication yet that inflation is heading back to normal levels from 40-year highs — without a recession. Central bankers won’t be caught celebrating, scarred by years of unexpected twists that repeatedly upended the Fed’s inflation fight. But officials will close out the summer with the surest sense yet that it’s time to loosen up on the economic brakes, possibly starting next month.

As The New York Times continues, the new inflation numbers have Democrats surging with excitement:

After more than two years of being politically battered over soaring prices, Wednesday’s inflation report left many Democrats feeling victorious.

Consumer prices rose 2.9 percent in the year through July, falling below 3 percent for the first time since 2021. The report keeps the Federal Reserve on track to cut interest rates next month, a move that could lift economic sentiment in the United States ahead of the November election.

“We’ve won the battle against inflation,” Bharat Ramamurti, former deputy director of the National Economic Council, wrote on X. “It’s time for the Fed to begin cutting rates.”

Congressional Democrats were also using the report to push the Fed to cut aggressively.

“Inflation is down,” Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said in a news release. “The price of gas or a new car have fallen over the last year. And many families can now breathe a bit easier. Now, we need to make sure that this relief is reaching all Americans.”

Yes, we are still two months away from ballots arriving in the hands of many voters.

Yes, things could change.

Yes, turnout will be very important.

But it’s okay to take a moment and marvel at just how drastically the 2024 Presidential campaign has changed in less than a month. Whose shoes would you rather be wearing today?