5 findings in DNC's post-election autopsy report: Harris' 'messaging misalignment'
1. Trump attack ad on Harris’ push for trans surgeries for prisoners ‘boxed’ her in
The report cited testimony from pollsters who “were involved in discussions around the Trump attack ads — in particular the attack ad focused on the vice president's prior statements on transgendered Americans.”
The ad in question showed video footage of Harris assuring an LGBT activist that “every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access” to gender transition surgeries.
After sharing headlines from mainstream media outlets showing Trump’s claim that Harris supported taxpayer-funded sex-change surgeries for prisoners was true, the ad showed a copy of a candidate questionnaire the vice president filled out, answering in the affirmative when asked if she supported ensuring that prisoners have access to “gender transition, including all necessary surgical care.”
“It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment associated with gender transition. That’s why, as attorney general [of California], I pushed the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to state inmates,” she wrote.
Trump's ad concluded with the narrator stating, “Kamala’s for they/them, President Trump is for you.”
According to the report, pollsters “recognized the attack as very effective, and felt the campaign was boxed — the ad was a video of her saying what she said, and it was framed as an attack on her economic priorities. If the vice president would not change her position — and she did not — then there was nothing which would have worked as a response. The pollsters generally concurred with the opinions shared by campaign leadership — given the stakes and timing, the focus needed to be on attacking Trump.”
This finding from the report echoes data released shortly after the 2024 election showing that swing voters cited a belief that Harris “was too focused on cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class” as a major reason why they voted against her.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
