Commentary: Here's what Kamala Harris must do to appeal to a fractured voter base

As the Nov. 5 election swiftly approaches, the nation’s razor-thin presidential race hangs on one truth. It’s all about the base.

That mantra applies to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. There’s a wrinkle, however, for the Democrats.

Trump has locked up his GOP base. The challenge for Harris is that she must wrestle with a fractured base, the split between left-leaning and moderate Democrats, that she needs a goodly portion of to win.

Trump has a simple message, and he will bang that drum until he gives voters a headache. No subtlety there, just clanging and banging to get his troops to march to the polls. It’s classic Trump. The evil immigrants are chomping on our pets. Harris is a “commie” and her father a “Marxist professor.” World leaders will eat Harris for breakfast, lunch and dinner. America is in decline, but “I” will save the nation and restore it to greatness.

Trump practices the politics of cultural despair, pushing the perceived loss of the halcyon days with more than a pinch of racism and xenophobia. Mix that with an “I will lower your taxes” message, and you have the Trumpism stew. That message won’t appeal to most of the American electorate. During Trump’s three campaigns and presidency, his approval rating has rarely topped 50%.

Still, there is no lunge to the center for Trump. He’s not wasting his breath by stomping on Nikki Haley voters or Liz Cheney “RINOS” (Republicans in name only).

Trump is limiting his pitch to the voters he already has. In some ways, his basic messaging gives him a communications advantage. Trump’s playbook is simple but effective. He bangs on the drum until your eardrums shatter. If he were your next-door neighbor, you would call the police.

Harris has a more difficult, nuanced mission. The wrinkle in her voter base makes a simple appeal inappropriate and ineffective. Still, she has more upside, with the potential to capture the moderate voters of the Democratic tribe, which comprise most of the Democratic general electorate.

Democrats in that vein tend to be economically more moderate and socially more liberal than many Republicans. In the 2020 primary, those voters surged to Joe Biden and carried him over the finish line in the general election with 81 million popular votes, 7 million more than Trump.

There are more wrinkles. Harris must win over some of the stymied and dissatisfied Republicans who are done with Trump but fear that Harris is too liberal.

If she wants to broaden her base, she must attract voters seeking a conservative message. The Haley voters, constitutionalist types and Dick Cheney-esque characters. Recall that Haley, a former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, won 20% of the 2024 Republican presidential primary vote. That’s a cache of support Harris can capture. In the swing states, that could be the difference between a loss and a victory.

Then, there are the progressives, perhaps the most motivated Democratic voters, but also the most difficult to compromise with. Their left-leaning agenda is not that popular with most Americans. Harris leans with them. Yet, her nearly four years serving with Biden in the White House has taught her that if you want to get stuff done, you start in the center.

We all remember what happened in her last presidential run in the 2020 Democratic primaries. Harris ambushed Biden in the debates, then got decapitated by then-U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

Progressive voters need to be massaged. They make up a large cohort and often identify with third-party candidates and independents such as Jill Stein and Cornel West, who are big on protest votes.

So herein lies the rub for Harris. How does she appeal to these three groups without antagonizing any one of them? Remember, Biden tried the “Trump threatens our democracy” line. It went nowhere. Messaging matters. Fragmented communication with her voters is certainly less effective than Trump’s messaging.

How many times have you heard the notion that if you repeat a lie, over and over again, it begins to ring true? Trump’s fraudulent election claims, for example, are the essence of winning political communication.

So, what is Harris to do? What she is doing right now. Pursue the Bill Clinton approach. The former president targeted policy initiatives aimed at groups in the population that would benefit from those initiatives.

In other words, give away the store. Offer a glittering $25,000 first-time homeowners’ credit. Keep U.S. Steel American. Support the federal legalization of marijuana. Pledge to codify Roe v. Wade as federal law. Tax the uber-rich.

Hand out the policy goodies right into the November election. It may not be the same as Trump’s plea of it’s about “me, me, me.”

Harris’ winning message. It’s about “us.”

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Laura Washington is a political commentator and longtime Chicago journalist.

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