These candid remarks signify a shift from the prevailing media narrative that Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, are gaining momentum in the polls and are poised to defeat their opponents, former President Donald Trump and his vice-presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, in the upcoming November election. Responding to a question from a reporter about new polling data showing her up three points nationally, Harris remarked, “I very much consider us the underdog.” Harris added, “That's why we're on this bus tour today, and we're gonna be traveling this country as we've been and talking with folks, listening to folks, and hopefully earning their votes.” Harris officially secured the Democratic Party’s nomination for president on Aug. 6, just weeks after President Joe Biden unexpectedly announced his withdrawal from the race through a letter posted on social media. Before Biden stepped aside, Harris was widely viewed as a long-shot candidate for the Democratic nomination, plagued by historically low approval ratings — similar to Biden's — and a voter base that harbored significant doubts about her ability to win. Since becoming the party’s standard-bearer, Harris has enjoyed fawning media coverage by corporate outlets, which has possibly helped boost her poll numbers. However, Harris has avoided long-form interviews with journalists about her policy agenda and has delivered few unscripted remarks since securing the nomination, making her comments during the Pennsylvania event a rare and noteworthy exception. Outside of her blue campaign bus, when asked by a reporter if she feels that she has ground to make up, Harris said, “I feel like we need to earn everyone's vote.” She continued:During a Sunday campaign event in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that she considers the Democrats to be the "underdogs" in the 2024 election.
And that means being on the road, being in communities where people are, where they live, whether it be a high school football team, and being there at their public school while they're there at practice and talking to their coaches. Whether it means going to the local fire station and talking with our incredible firefighters about what they need and what they have a right to expect, such as that we are gonna pay attention to how they give up so much to keep communities safe, what they do to preserve what we want in terms of a quality of life, and we need to give it back to them in terms of better equipment and the work that they do every day. So, I'm gonna be out here with Tim, with the second gentleman, with Mr. Walz, and we're gonna be working on earning every vote between now and November.
