Pollster Frank Luntz on Wednesday said that President Joe Biden’s apparent comments about former President Donald Trump’s supporters may have cost his vice president her election campaign.
Discussing Biden’s remarks that appeared to refer to Trump supporters as “garbage,” in a response to a comedian’s joke at the Republican presidential candidate’s New York City rally on Sunday that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage,” Luntz said on CNN that the Biden’s comments could move voters.
“This is not some comedian saying something stupid and offensive at a rally where he should have been just basically disinvited,” Luntz said. “This is the President of the United States endorsing his Vice President, saying something—and I know that there’s different interpretations about what he said—it’s still inappropriate. He still shouldn’t be doing it.”
Biden made the comments on Tuesday, when he appeared in a video and said: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters…his his his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American,” while referring to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial remarks at Madison Square Garden.
Vice President Kamala Harris gestures as she speaks during a Get Out the Vote rally at Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 30, 2024.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Trump responded after the Biden comments that “you can’t be president if you hate the American people.” Those remarks coming despite his remarks disparaging his rivals, and calling them the “enemy within” in recent interviews and rally speeches.
Biden later sought to clarify his remarks in a post on X, formerly Twitter, explaining the demonization of Latinos was what he viewed as garbage.
On CNN, Luntz compared the comments to Hillary Clinton‘s “basket of deplorables” remarks in 2016 about Trump’s base.
“In 2024, I can promise you that this is going to drive Trump turnout,” he said. “This may be a turning point for those final 3 percent—and that’s all it is—who still need to be persuaded.”
Luntz said there were still voter blocks in play, including working class people in the key state of Pennsylvania, who Trump was attracting, as well as Latinos across the U.S., where Harris was up by anywhere from 10 to 22 points over Trump, according to surveys.
On Wednesday morning, the vice president said she was for all Americans, whoever they voted for.
“I’ve been very clear with the American public,” Harris said. “I respect the challenges that people face. I respect the fact that we all have so much more in common than what separates us and that most people want a president that understands that, that gets that and approaches their role of leadership that way.”
Luntz said when it came to undecided voters, the next few days were key for both candidates, as Trump offends them, but Harris scares them as they do not know where she stands on key issues, including on immigration.
He added that Harris had focused much on working women, who didn’t trust Trump, but they may not be the deciding group.
“This election may be determined by men in their 40s and 50s, who were Democratic voters in 2016 and 2020, and simply feel like the Democratic Party has left them,” he said. “In the end it’s not that Trump has pulled them in, it’s that Harris has pushed them away.”
Newsweek reached out to the Harris campaign Wednesday evening via email for comment.
