Harris' policy agenda has gaps and ambiguities as she shifts to the center
As Kamala Harris pivots to the center in the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, the agenda she’s using to convey a pragmatic streak includes various unanswered questions.
WASHINGTON — As Kamala Harris pivots to the center in the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, the agenda she’s using to convey a pragmatic streak includes various unanswered questions as she cautiously jettisons some past progressive positions.
Two days before her first debate with Donald Trump on Tuesday, Vice President Harris released a policy page on her campaign website, marking the most comprehensive agenda of her presidential bid. It highlighted her recent cost-focused plans to lower the price of groceries and housing, and to boost the child tax credit, which are the most detailed she has offered.
But the agenda includes gaps and ambiguities on major issues — like the minimum wage, paid leave and child care funding — that could leave voters wondering what types of policies she would push for if elected. Some sections are backward-looking and focus more on touting the record of the Biden-Harris administration, while also criticizing Trump’s agenda. Harris claimed the nomination unusually late after President Joe Biden dropped out in July, and her website evolved from the page set up for his campaign.
It remains to be seen whether the lack of specifics will hurt Harris politically against a Republican opponent with a haphazard approach to policymaking who has struggled when asked for specifics on issues like child care and abortion. In a recent New York Times poll, 3 in 10 voters said they “need to learn more about Kamala Harris,” compared with 1 in 10 who said that about Trump.
Some voters are forgiving about Harris' changing positions.
Rating: 5