Category: Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday morning to mark the third anniversary of the Kabul airport attack that killed 13 U.S. service members.

Trump later addressed the National Guard Association at the group’s annual conference in battleground Michigan, where he received an endorsement from former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves who was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait.

The chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in August 2021 continues to be a focal point of conservative criticism of the Biden administration.

Trump has long decried President Joe Biden’s handling of what he said on Monday was a “botched” exit and “embarrassing” moment for the nation, though recently has included Vice President Kamala Harris — his new 2024 rival — in his denunciation of the event.

“Caused by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world,” Trump said at the National Guard Association, claiming he would have overseen the withdrawal differently.

“We will never forget those brave warriors who made the supreme sacrifice for our country. They will live in our hearts forever,” Trump said of the 13 service members killed. He added, “We will honor their memory by restoring a government that puts the American people first.”

Harris on Monday released a statement honoring the 13 U.S. service members who lost their lives when an ISIS-K terrorist detonated a suicide bomb at the Abbey Gate of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, where evacuation efforts were centered after the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan. At least 170 Afghan civilians were also killed in the bombing and dozens of others wounded.

The vice president said the fallen soldiers “represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe.”

“I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families and I will always honor their service and sacrifice,” she said.

Harris went on to defend Biden’s decision to end “America’s longest war.”

“Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones,” she said in the statement. “I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland.”

Harris has previously spoken about being in the room with Biden for important decisions, including his decision to carry out a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan — which Trump reportedly tried to launch in his final days as president. The Trump administration’s negotiated peace plan with the Taliban included a date of May 1, 2021, for the final withdrawal of troops — which Biden then continued to carry out with a September deadline.

Top officials have testified before Congress on the tumultuous withdrawal, some of whom have detailed regrets about how it was handled.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday announced he will present the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously on Sep. 10 to honor the 13 service members who were killed in Kabul. The medals, Congress’ highest civilian honor, will be presented to their families.

Biden, in his own statement on Monday, said the 13 Americans killed at Abbey Gate embodied “the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless. And we owe them and their families a sacred debt we will never be able to fully repay, but will never cease working to fulfill.”

Biden said “we must never forget the immense price that was paid for our freedom. We must never forget that each beloved service member we lost was a human being, who left behind entire families and communities. And together, we must never stop striving to be worthy of their ultimate sacrifice.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday morning to mark the third anniversary of the Kabul airport attack that killed 13 U.S. service members.

Trump will also later address the National Guard Association at the group’s annual conference in battleground Michigan.

The chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in August 2021 continues to be a focal point of conservative criticism of the Biden administration.

Trump has long decried President Joe Biden’s handling of what he said on Monday was a “botched” exit and “embarrassing” moment for the nation, though recently has included Vice President Kamala Harris — his new 2024 rival — in his denunciation of the event.

“Exactly three years ago this month, the weakness and incompetence of Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden delivered the most humiliating event in the history of our country and one of the biggest military disasters in the history of the world,” Trump claimed at a rally in North Carolina last week.

Harris on Monday released a statement honoring the 13 U.S. service members who lost their lives when an ISIS-K terrorist detonated a suicide bomb at the Abbey Gate of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, where evacuation efforts were centered after the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan. At least 170 Afghan civilians were also killed in the bombing and dozens of others wounded.

The vice president said the fallen soldiers “represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe.”

“I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families and I will always honor their service and sacrifice,” she said.

Harris went on to defend Biden’s decision to end “America’s longest war.”

“Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones,” she said in the statement. “I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland.”

Harris has previously spoken about being in the room with Biden for important decisions, including his decision to carry out a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan — which Trump reportedly tried to launch in his final days as president. The Trump administration’s negotiated peace plan with the Taliban included a date of May 1, 2021, for the final withdrawal of troops — which Biden then continued to carry out with a September deadline.

Top officials have testified before Congress on the tumultuous withdrawal, some of whom have detailed regrets about how it was handled.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday announced he will present the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously on Sep. 10 to honor the 13 service members who were killed in Kabul. The medals, Congress’ highest civilian honor, will be presented to their families.

Biden, in his own statement on Monday, said the 13 Americans killed at Abbey Gate embodied “the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless. And we owe them and their families a sacred debt we will never be able to fully repay, but will never cease working to fulfill.”

Biden said “we must never forget the immense price that was paid for our freedom. We must never forget that each beloved service member we lost was a human being, who left behind entire families and communities. And together, we must never stop striving to be worthy of their ultimate sacrifice.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Two-time presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders predicted the campaign ahead will be “rough” but said he believes Vice President Kamala Harris “has a very good chance to win” the presidential election.

“She’s certainly going to win the popular vote by millions of votes, and I think she has a great chance to win many of the battleground states,” Sanders told “This Week” co-anchor Jon Karl on Sunday. “I think people are growing tired and fatigued with Trump’s consistent and outrageous lies and I think no matter what people may think of Kamala Harris, I think they want stability in the White House.”

The interview came just days after Democrats wrapped a lively convention where the party highlighted “freedom” as their overarching message for the campaign.

Asked about comments Harris made in her acceptance speech about ensuring the nation’s military strength, Sanders cautioned against increased spending.

“The United States is now spending more than the next 10 nations combined on defense,” he said. “I agree with the vice president. We want the strongest defense in the world, but I do think enough is enough. You’re seeing military contractors profits soaring, and I think we can have the strongest defense in the world without spending a trillion dollars a year.”

Sanders said Harris should focus her messaging on the economy and welfare of voters.

“We have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of this country,” he said. “So I happen to believe it’s important that we end the embarrassment of having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth.”

Karl also asked Sanders if not giving the “Uncommitted” movement a platform at the convention was a mistake for Harris. Pro-Palestinian protesters and activists with the Uncommitted movement had repeatedly requested a speaking slot during the Democratic National Convention. The request, however, was denied by party officials.

Sanders has been one of the leading voices on Capitol Hill calling for a change in U.S. policy toward Israel as its war against Hamas in Gaza approaches its 11th month. He also has been outspoken against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I happen to think that we should not be giving another nickel to Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government,” he said. “They certainly had a right to defend themselves against the atrocious Hamas attack. They never had the right, do not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people, kill 40,000, injure 80,000 and destroy the health care system, the educational system and the civilian infrastructure.”

He added, “American taxpayer dollars should not go to starve children in Gaza.”

Karl then asked Sanders about the nation’s immigration struggles and how Harris’ views on the southern border have shifted.

“When Harris ran for the Democratic nomination against you and others in 2020, she said she favored decriminalizing illegal border crossings. She even suggested she was she would be in favor of abolishing [Immigration and Customs Enforcement],” Karl said.

“We have a crisis at the border. We’ve got to make sure that fentanyl does not get into this country. We have to crack down on illegal immigration,” Sanders replied. “But we need comprehensive immigration reform. And I suspect that’s what the vice president supports.”

Republicans have attacked Harris by tying her to the high level of migrant encounters and apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border over President Joe Biden’s term. Harris has tried to counter that by highlighting her time as a prosecutor and support for the failed bipartisan border policy reform bill. Harris previously supported decriminalizing illegal border crossings and said she believed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “mission … is very much in question and has to be reexamined.”

ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Will McDuffie and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, an ally of Donald Trump, said the presidential race will be a close one and the former president will put in the work to win in November.

When pressed by “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on whether or not Trump has to pivot his messaging to focus more on Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies, Cotton replied that Trump’s “campaign has known all along, and they’ve said all along that this race is going to be a close race,” though Trump himself has also predicted a wide margin of victory for himself.

“We know the race will probably come down to a few hundred thousand votes in a few states. President Trump has been campaigning hard and vigorously now for months. Obviously, that’s going to increase in its pace as we get closer to the election, and President Trump is going to draw a sharp contrast with Kamala Harris,” Cotton said.

Cotton’s remarks come as Republicans urge Trump to focus more on his messaging. While he has consistently noted voters’ frustrations on inflation and immigration, he has also thrown personal jabs that some in his party consider distractions, including saying he’s better looking than Harris.

The lack of messaging discipline comes as polling shows Harris significantly improving on President Joe Biden’s standing nationally and in key swing states. 538’s national polling average now shows Harris up by 3.6 points nationally.

Republicans are also frustrated by what they claim is a lack of policy transparency by Harris.

The vice president recently released details of her economic plan, including fighting price gouging and expanding assistance for new parents and first-time homebuyers. She has not said much else, aside from disavowing policies she proposed in 2020 like banning fracking.

“[S]he’s taking these efforts not to change her positions, but to hide her positions. Jon, the American people are totally justified to conclude that Kamala Harris is a dangerous San Francisco liberal based on what she campaigned on the last time she ran for president and what this administration has done the last four years,” Cotton said.

“If she has changed her position, she owes it to the American people to come out and say to her own words when she changed and why she changed,” he added.

Cotton also dismissed any momentum Harris could have coming out of the Democrats’ convention in Chicago, which included several Republican supporters who cast Trump as a threat to democracy.

“Well, in every election Jon, you have some members of one party endorsing the candidate of the other party. That’s a very traditional aspect of American politics,” Cotton said. “I mean, look at what just happened this week. The Democratic Party under Kamala Harris has gone so far to the left that you actually had a Kennedy endorse a Republican,” Cotton said, referring to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent endorsement of Trump.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Vice President Kamala Harris raised $82 million the week of the Democratic National Convention, bringing her total haul since launching her candidacy last month to $540 million, her campaign said.

The sum is buttressed by nearly $40 million raked in during and after Harris delivered her acceptance speech at the convention on Thursday night, campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement, which noted the campaign crossed the half-billion-dollar mark moments before she took the stage.

The hour after the vice president’s remarks was the campaign’s best fundraising hour, O’Malley Dillon said.

The total reflects what was raised between the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and their joint fundraising committees.

In addition to growing its financial war chest, a third of which was from new donors last week, the Harris campaign also saw its foot soldiers sign up for nearly 200,000 volunteer shifts during the convention—more than any other week, O’Malley Dillon said, with 90,000 shift sign-ups coming Thursday and Friday.

“We head into September with a virtual army of volunteers ready to do the hard work of talking to their neighbors, friends and colleagues,” O’Malley Dillon wrote in the memo. “Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s battleground infrastructure remains incredibly sparse.”

“The Convention was a galvanizing moment for the Harris-Walz coalition throughout the country, energizing and mobilizing volunteer and grassroots donors alike,” she later added, saying they will use the resources to reach voters “while Trump is focused on very little beyond online tantrums and attacking the voters critical to winning 270 electoral votes.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Vice President Kamala Harris raised $82 million the week of the Democratic National Convention, bringing her total haul since launching her candidacy last month to $540 million, her campaign said.

The sum is buttressed by nearly $40 million raked in during and after Harris delivered her acceptance speech at the convention on Thursday night, campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement, which noted the campaign crossed the half-billion-dollar mark moments before she took the stage.

The hour after the vice president’s remarks was the campaign’s best fundraising hour, O’Malley Dillon said.

The total reflects what was raised between the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and their joint fundraising committees.

In addition to growing its financial war chest, a third of which was from new donors last week, the Harris campaign also saw its foot soldiers sign up for nearly 200,000 volunteer shifts during the convention—more than any other week, O’Malley Dillon said, with 90,000 shift sign-ups coming Thursday and Friday.

“We head into September with a virtual army of volunteers ready to do the hard work of talking to their neighbors, friends and colleagues,” O’Malley Dillon wrote in the memo. “Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s battleground infrastructure remains incredibly sparse.”

“The Convention was a galvanizing moment for the Harris-Walz coalition throughout the country, energizing and mobilizing volunteer and grassroots donors alike,” she later added, saying they will use the resources to reach voters “while Trump is focused on very little beyond online tantrums and attacking the voters critical to winning 270 electoral votes.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — As the Democratic National Convention made history with Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the first Black and South Asian woman to accept the Democratic nomination for president, the most viral moments in a week of “firsts” were captured by social media content creators who received first-of-its-kind credentialed access to the convention.

The presidential race closes in with less than three months until the election, and the key to the Oval Office might just come down to winning over the youngest generation of voters, whose coming of age has changed the landscape of the election.

One-third of adults under the age of 30 regularly scroll social media apps, like TikTok, for news, up 255% since 2020, according to Pew Research.

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Engagement and Learning revealed that young voters are consuming and producing political news more than ever, with 70% of young people revealing they got information about the 2020 election on social media.

It’s part of why both the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns are getting creative and investing in their social media strategy to influence Gen Z voters.

Both parties invited hundreds of creators to their prospective conventions to help draw eyeballs to their platforms and presidential candidates.

Roughly 70 content creators were invited to participate in the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last month, according to the RNC officials.

The DNC said around 200 social media influencers were credentialed for the convention, giving them exclusive access to invite-only parties and events as well as opportunities to meet and interview delegates.

They were also given access to an exclusive “creator’s lounge” that was separate from traditional media spaces in the United Center arena. Influencers took turns recording content from a designated seating area on the arena floor close to the stage.

“There are influencers that are way more powerful than the TV networks, way more powerful than the New York Times or the Washington Post, and way more important if you’re trying to reach actual voters,” said ABC News Washington Bureau and Political Director Rick Klein in an interview with “Nightline.”

“If you can get the youth vote to engage just a little bit more, the thinking is, well, that can just change the election,” Klein said.

The battle for the youth vote

From former President Donald Trump’s return to X in an interview with Elon Musk to the vice president’s viral memes at the kickoff of her presidential campaign, the presidential hopefuls are battling to engage young voters.

So far, Harris seems to have the edge — the vice president leads Trump by 20 points among 18-39-year-olds, according to a recent ABC News/ Washington Post Ipsos poll.

In terms of followers, Trump beats Harris with his 10.5 million followers compared to her 4.6 million on TikTok.

“I constantly joke with President Trump when we’re backstage at events that he was the ultimate influencer. He was the original kind of the OG influencer,” Brilyn Hollyhand, an 18-year-old social media influencer, told “Nightline.”

Hollyhand was among the content creators credentialed for the Republican National Convention. The high school senior was the convention’s youth advisory chair, and he said it was his idea to give young social creators credentialed access to the RNC.

“My message to the RNC after the 2022 Midterms was that the Republican Party is an endangered species at risk of extinction. I went into this meeting thinking that it would be a really hard sell. And they immediately went for it,” Hollyhand said.

Hollyhand told ABC News that he believes anecdotally that it was a success.

“I came back to school the next week, half of my peers who didn’t even know a convention was going on, now, because their favorite fitness influencer posted a video or their favorite video game streamer posted a TikTok from the event … they found out a convention was going on and they enjoyed it,” Hollyhand added.

While young voters tend to sway more Democratic, Klein told “Nightline,” that the bigger variable is voter turn-out.

“The biggest question is not really how they vote, but how many of them vote. And that’s where the enthusiasm that can be engendered by authentic communication through influencers can make a difference,” Klein said.

In Chicago this week, Malynda Hale, an actress and social media influencer with more than 90,000 followers, was among the 200 influencers at the DNC.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Hale told ABC News’ multiplatform reporter Christiane Cordero on “GMA3.” “When I found out it was going to be Kamala Harris, I was like, this is going to be historical.”

Hale posted daily updates and interviews with delegates as she participated in DNC convention events.

“I gained a couple hundred, just like just yesterday just from doing this stuff. And since the hashtag #democraticconvention, I think everyone’s kind of watching it right now, ” Hale said.

Many credential influencers say they aren’t being paid by the Democratic National Convention or the campaign, but some of their trips are funded by agencies and nonprofits that align with their content.

Elizabeth Booker Houston, a social justice influencer with more than half a million followers, says being funded independently allows her to stay authentic on her platform.

“I participated in a protest for Palestine at Michigan Avenue on Sunday when I was here. I don’t at all feel like I’m silenced in speaking about those issues just because I’m here at the DNC,” Houston said.

Some influencers who attend the DNC are using their platforms to promote presidential candidates that align with their platform.

Deja Foxx, an abortion rights activist, was one of the first influencers to take the stage at the DNC convention.

“We need Kamala Harris. She’ll deliver a future where we can decide if and when to start a family,” Deja said on the convention stage on August 19.

The Arizona native went viral in 2017 for confronting Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., over his support of defunding reproductive health and family planning programs.

“Why is it your right to take away my right to choose Planned Parenthood?” Foxx asked Flake. The moment was shared on Facebook by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona and millions of people liked shared the video in solidarity.

Foxx said she started creating reproductive rights content on her social media accounts. In 2019, while she was a student at Columbia University, she got a call from the Harris campaign during the now-vice president’s first presidential run.

“Within two weeks, I was packing up that dorm room and starting a job as an influencer and surrogate strategist out of headquarters, a job that, mind you, did not exist before I got there,” Foxx told ABC News.

Fast forward to this year, the Harris campaign invited Foxx to speak at the DNC as a credentialed creator. Foxx said she has not been affiliated with the campaign directly since her role in 2019. She notes she was not paid directly by a PAC or the Harris campaign for her attendance at the DNC; however, footage that was shot at the convention event will be used in paid partnership and will be labeled accordingly.

“To be here today, to be a small part of history, is a dream realized,” Foxx said, adding that she is mindful that her peers may be using her content to shape their political views.

“They are building a political identity in their teens and early 20s, that is going to follow them, follow our generation for a lifetime. I think it’s a really smart investment to think about how we are helping them build that perspective, that opinion early and meeting them on the platforms where they already are,” Foxx said.

ABC News’ Marjorie McAfee, Zoe Chevalier and Elizabeth Pekin contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(STATESBORO, Ga.) — Len Fatica is a member of a political species that’s practically extinct in deep red Statesboro, Georgia — a rural Democrat.

ABC News traveled to the biggest city in Georgia’s southeastern Bulloch County, with a population of around 34,000. It boasts four different Main Streets (one for each point of the compass) and a persistent gnat problem.

“People are, for the most part, very friendly,” Fatica, the Georgia Democratic Party’s rural council chair, told ABC News. “They will sit down and have a conversation with you even if they disagree with you.”

Plenty of people disagree with Fatica, who’s running for county commission and leading an initiative to attract rural voters to the state Democratic Party. They meet each week at a local coffee shop to talk strategy, and he acknowledged how difficult it is for Democrats to make inroads in rural areas.

“If you look at Bulloch County down here, we’re probably close to 70% that is Republican,” he said. “This is a deep Republican area.”

Fatica accepted the persistent criticism that Democrats left rural voters behind long ago in favor of urban populations, but he believes locals might be gradually drawn back — a possibility suggested when Joe Biden narrowly won the swing state in the 2020 presidential election.

“At one time, it was a Democratic county,” he said. “Talking to Republicans, they feel within 10 years, with the manufacturing jobs that are being moved in, this could become a Democratic county again.”

Fatica highlighted the importance of Democrats taking on Trump’s rhetoric, even when talking to deep red voters.

“We’ve got to punch back, and we’ve got to punch back on the falsehoods that are told,” he said.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of running mate might also move the needle, according to Fatica. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who formally accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, regularly highlights his rural roots in speeches and rallies.

“Growing up I spent the summers working on the family farm,” Walz said on Aug. 6. “My mom and dad taught us — show generosity toward your neighbors and work for the common good.”

Lifelong Democrats Robin Hutcheson and her daughter Aliya Johnson highlighted how unusual they are, living in Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s northwest Georgia congressional district.

“You see a lot of trucks with Trump flags and a lot of Trump flags in the yard, and we are like little blue dots in a big red sea,” Hutcheson said.

They agreed that Walz could appeal to rural Americans.

“I feel like Tim is genuinely a person who has high morals, who is a good, upstanding person,” Johnson said. “That kind of represents the older style of respectability that I think older voters got used to and that newer voters still want to lean on and believe is the right thing, and a good thing.”

The mother and daughter agreed that Democrats haven’t been this excited since Obama’s bids for the White House.

“This is the first time that we really feel like change is possible,” Johnson said.

Political strategist Fred Hicks noted his belief that Georgia has become competitive because many of the culture wars that defined America for generations have subsided — there are multiple issues rather than a single issue driving people to vote.

“The economic issue is really what’s, I think, pushing people because you have not had the economic growth outside of these urban nodes,” Hicks said of the rural areas.

Peter Fuller is the chair of the northeastern Jackson County’s Democratic Party and knows flipping any rural part of Georgia is a tall order. Trump won 78% of the Jackson County vote in 2020.

“These are counties that have been like this for a while. They are long-term projects,” he said. “Most of these communities are agriculture based. We have issues of either not having population growth, or loss in some cases. Health care is a big one.”

Fuller noted that translating some national policies into something relatable for Jackson County voters can be challenging.

“It’s a lot easier to do with somebody like Tim Walz,” he said.

What remains to be seen is whether the hope and excitement around the Harris-Walz ticket can translate into votes and victory for the Democratic Party in rural America.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LEWISBURG, Pa.) — If elections are about “the economy, stupid,” Ben McDuffee has not had the kind of confidence-boosting year that would make him feel good about keeping Democrats at the top of the ticket for four more years. And he is a Democrat.

The Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, resident lost his job late last year. He worked in financing for the auto industry and was unemployed for three months. During that time, he applied to more than 200 jobs. In March, he accepted a position at a local credit union — and a $30,000 pay cut.

That income hit, combined with higher prices at the grocery store and a recent increase in their monthly rent, meant tightening the budget. He and his wife put plans on hold to buy a home for themselves and their 11-year-old son, as interest rates rose, too.

“You know, ultimately, the question that voters ask when they go to the polls every four years is, am I in a better spot than I was four years ago? And when we’re swiping our card for groceries every week, we are absolutely not in a better spot than we were four years ago,” McDuffee said in an interview with ABC News at his home.

“So, we have to balance that with — what do we think will happen with the country if we pick the other guy?”

From what he sees everyday in his rural Pennsylvania town — a sliver of one of the most critical swing states in the country — dislike of “the other guy,” former President Donald Trump, might not be enough for Vice President Kamala Harris to overcome what he sees as a major liability: the economy.

It’s the reality of this election, and it rings especially true in his battleground state: despite a strong recovery from the global pandemic — including record-low unemployment, increased wage growth and consistently sturdy consumer spending — the economy is still a top concern for voters.

According to an ABC News-Washington Post/Ipsos poll, more than 85% of adults rank the economy and inflation as highly important for their vote for president, by far the two highest-ranking issues. And voters trusted Trump over Harris on both issues by 9 points.

“There’s a disconnect between these macroeconomic numbers that are coming out and then what we’re hearing people are reporting about how they feel about the economy,” Heidi Shierholz, the president of the Economic Policy Institute and a former chief economist for the Department of Labor during the Obama administration.

A major reason it’s such a steep political challenge, she says, is that high prices are more obvious to people on a daily basis than national statistics or even their own pay raise.

“People’s living standards are actually growing despite the higher price level. So what’s going on now is actually what we want to see,” Shierholz said. “But it still is frustrating when you go to the grocery store or wherever and you see these high prices. You don’t always think in the back of your head, ‘Well, I also got that big wage increase, I can cover this and still be okay’.”

Since the peak of the pandemic recession, the U.S. has seen an increase in overall consumer prices by 20%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the inflation-adjusted wages have also risen, on average, by about 25%.

That leaves some people feeling worse off than they actually are — and for people like McDuffee, who have seen their income fall or stay flat, the squeeze of higher prices is particularly sharp.

“I don’t doubt the numbers. But it all comes down to what you can do with the money that you have for your family. And you don’t feel all of all these great numbers,” McDuffee said.

It’s a perception Harris knows she will need to reverse to win over voters in critical battleground states like Pennsylvania, which could be key to winning her the presidency.

“Today, by virtually every measure, our economy is the strongest in the world,” Harris said in a recent campaign rally focused on the economy in North Carolina. But she was also careful to try not to alienate voters who don’t feel those impacts.

“We know that many Americans don’t yet feel that progress in their daily lives. Costs are still too high. And on a deeper level, for too many people, no matter how much they work, it feels so hard to just be able to get ahead,” Harris added.

To address this concern, Harris and President Joe Biden have pushed a “lowering costs” campaign, a handful of policies aimed at bringing down daily prices for people.

Efforts like negotiating down the price of drugs covered by Medicare, so seniors pay less for their prescriptions, and passing regulations that require companies to disclose “junk fees” on products like hotel rooms or concert tickets. For nearly 4.8 million people, the administration has canceled student loans.

For McDuffee, these policies aren’t cutting through.

He will reluctantly vote for Harris, he says, but he knows that many voters will prioritize their bank accounts in November.

“The only thing that I think a lot of consumers feel is when they swipe their card at the gas pump, at the grocery store, you know, buying back-to-school clothes, all of those items are more expensive than they were four years ago,” McDuffee said. “And I think that’s what resonates.”

Three hours southeast, though, Philadelphia City Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson says she’s an example of why the Biden administration’s piecemeal policies are working — and have exponentially changed her family’s economic trajectory.

“No hesitation at all. I’m better off than I was four years ago. My family is better off because of the work of the Biden-Harris administration. And my children will be better off because of the Biden-Harris administration, if nothing more,” she said in an interview at her home in West Philadelphia.

Richardson, who has worked for the city for over 20 years, had her student debt canceled as part of major reforms to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, or PSLF, which allows peoples’ remaining debts to be forgiven after they’ve worked in public service and made loan payments for 10 years.

She has since helped her husband and her sister, who both work in non-profits and social work, respectively, to have their debts canceled, as well.

Through her family’s savings on student debt payments, Richardson, a mother of three, enrolled her two youngest children in one-on-one reading camp this summer.

Yet Richardson knows that receiving debt relief is a unique reason to feel good about the economy. Of the 43 million Americans with student loan debt, roughly one in 10 have so far had loans canceled by the Biden-Harris administration.

“I do hear from my constituents who have a number of concerns regarding the economy and their ability to be able to afford good quality housing to, you know, for food costs and to be able to take care of their families,” Richardson acknowledged.

Still, a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and a big fan of both Biden and Harris, Richardson says she believes her story reflects ongoing efforts to reduce financial burdens and a reason to re-elect the Democrats.

“I think we have to do a better job of telling that story and talking about the work that they’re seeking to do,” she said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Several young Democrats said they are embracing the “vibe shift” in the party that they’ve experienced over the last few weeks, feeling newly enlivened at the Democratic National Convention with Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket.

“I’ve been around a lot of political things for the past few years, and it has never felt this exciting,” Jonah Simon, 20, told ABC News at the DNC.

Simon said he feels that unlike merely a month ago when President Joe Biden was the nominee, younger voters now have a candidate in Harris they are “proud to get behind, somebody who we can be really excited to rally around.”

For decades, younger voters were a reliable part of the Democratic coalition, including in the 2020 election. But polls leading up to Biden’s departure from the race showed his wide advantage with Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 had diminished.

Liz Benecchi, 22, echoed a refrain heard from Democrats young and old — that while the party respected Biden’s record and decades of service, there was a necessity to turn the page.

“I have so much admiration and so much deep respect for him. I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t as excited about going out on Election Day to vote for President Joe Biden. But it was time for something new and it was time for a change. And I think everyone here is really fired up,” said Benecchi.

Benecchi pointed to the Harris campaign’s fresh embrace of social media, especially TikTok, leaning into memes like “brat summer” and Harris’ viral “coconut tree” moment, as a more earnest way to communicate with the party’s youngest flank.

“I have so many friends that want to get engaged. They want to volunteer, they want to canvass, they want to be a part of it,” Benecchi said.

That kind of enthusiasm can’t exist in a vacuum — and Lorenzo Ruiz, 20, said he feels like the energy transfer to get-out-the-vote mobilization is kicking off in earnest now.

“We’re moving on the right path. The trajectory feels like it’s toward victory, and we’re really seeing people lock in and engage. And that’s what we need. We need people excited. We need them happy and joyful. And this is a joyous campaign. And, that’s the campaign that we’ve been building and that we as a group, people on the campaign, people working grassroots, will continue to build. And, I think we’re going to win this thing,” Ruiz said.

This sort of enthusiasm is reflected in the newest ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, with the data showing an 18-point swing from Biden (at +2) to Harris (at +20) with people under 40.

But her support from the younger generation is not guaranteed — especially as young progressives remain heavily critical of Biden’s (and Harris’) position on Israel.

Jasmine Wynn, 19, one of such progressives, still plans on voting for Harris regardless. And while she acknowledges that others on the left may not follow suit, Wynn supposes that there’s a practical argument to be made to persuade them.

“I think a lot of young left, especially my friends, initially they were reluctant to vote for Harris or any kind of like Democratic ticket because of kind of what they’ve done so far in Gaza. But I think there’s kind of a shift in terms of, I think, approaching electoral politics in a very pragmatic sense as opposed to an idealistic sense,” said Wynn.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.