A senior advisor to Kamala Harris admitted internal polls showed the vice president was never ahead of Donald Trump in the battleground states, and that they were running on hope on Election Day.
David Plouffe said from the moment Harris entered the race she started behind Trump and that he was ‘surprised’ to see public polls showing her in the lead.
‘I mean, I think it surprised people because there were these public polls that came out in late September, early October, showing us with leads that we never saw,’ he said.
Plouffe, who advised President Barack Obama’s successful campaigns in 2008 and 2012 spoke about the race on the Pod Save America podcast on Tuesday.
Internal analytics, Plouffe said, showed Harris tied with Trump in Wisconsin 47-47 and Trump leading in Pennsylvania 48-47.
‘I think we were, you know, we were hopeful. I don’t know how optimistic we were, but we thought, okay, this is tied,’ he said.
Plouffe also admitted that what they thought was a great debate performance from Harris ultimately did not move the margins as much as they had hoped.
‘I think even after the debate, we might have gained what, 0.51. It wasn’t a race that moved a lot,’ he said.
He said the campaign hoped undecided voters would break for Harris and admitted that in some areas there was less turnout than they expected.
‘You know, you’ve got to have undecided break your way more than your opponents, and you’ve got to get a little benefit from turnout, which we weren’t able to do,’ he said.
Despite spending over $1 billion on the campaign, Plouffe admitted there was not much movement in the race.
Plouffe’s comments sparked a debate about the accuracy of polling.
Pollster Rasmussen Reports trumpeted the news as evidence that their polls were more accurate than others, even though Democratic critics had frequently dismissed them as being too positive for Trump.
‘Plouffe said the campaign’s internal polling NEVER HAD HER AHEAD OF TRUMP,’ the poll company wrote on X, highlighting results. ‘You mean, internally, it looked something like – this?’
Plouffe complained about how difficult it was for Democrats to win support from independents in battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, despite running two successful campaigns with Obama in 2008 and 2012.
He defended his decision to have Harris campaign with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, arguing it was essential to win over Independents and Republican-leaning voters.
Plouffe argued it was folly for strategists to focus only on pleasing Democratic and left-leaning people in the states.
‘The math just doesn’t f***ing work,’ he said. ‘Okay?’
Harris returned from her eight day vacation in Hawaii expressing gratitude to everyone who worked on their campaign, praising their ‘unprecedented’ efforts at raising more than $1.5 billion.
‘The outcome of this election obviously is not what we wanted. It is not what we worked so hard for. But I am proud of the race we ran, and your role in this was critical. What we did in 107 days was unprecedented,’ Harris said in a video.
The video released on social media by the Democratic National Committee.
‘I just have to remind you,’ she added. ‘Don’t you ever let anybody take your power from you. You have the same power that you did before November 5th.’