Kamala Harris’s campaign has raised a record-breaking $1bn within 80
days of her becoming the Democrats’ nominee yet has failed to translate
her cash advantage over Donald Trump into a poll advantage in the key
battleground states that will probably decide the election.

The vice-president’s fundraising haul, first reported by NBC, dwarfs the
$309m raised by Trump’s campaign by the end of August, and equals the
amount brought in by Joe Biden for his entire 2020 campaign.

But Democrats’ joy over the bounty is being tempered by a lack of
evidence that it is giving her the edge she will need in the
battleground states to win enough of them to affect the election outcome
in her favor.

In the latest warning sign for the vice-president, a Quinnipiac
university poll published on Wednesday showed her trailing Trump by two
and three points respectively in Wisconsin and Michigan – states which,
along with Pennsylvania, Democrats have labelled the “blue wall”.

The survey showed Trump ahead by 48-46% in Wisconsin and 50-47% in
Michigan. Harris has a narrow lead in most nationwide polls.

Harris maintains a three-point advantage in Pennsylvania, according to
Quinnipiac, as Barack Obama arrives in the state to campaign for Harris.
The former president will headline a Thursday rally in Pittsburgh, where
he is expected to urge naturally pro-Democrat voters to turn out for the
5 November poll.

Paradoxically, there are fears that Harris’s fundraising success may
lead to cash drying up when it matters most, by dampening the enthusiasm
of donors to give the extra funds that strategists believe might be
necessary to get her over the line in a tightening race.

“There have never been so many electoral college votes in play so late
in the cycle, which means that our strong fundraising and volunteer
enthusiasm are not guaranteed to be enough to fully reach voters
everywhere they are,” the Washington Post quoted an unnamed Harris
campaign staff member as saying.

Obama’s appearance on the campaign trail follows evidence that Harris is
failing to connect with key components of the Democrats’ constituency,
including Black men.

Politico reported that Democratic operatives were worried about apathy
among Black men in Detroit, Michigan’s biggest city, even as Harris’s
campaign has dispatched several high-profile African American surrogates
to the state, including the basketball legend Magic Johnson and the
party elder James Clyburn.

“I am worried about turnout in Detroit,” Jamal Simmons, a former
communications director for Harris, told the site. “Do they have the
machine to turn people out?”

“We continue to have this widening apathy in cities like Detroit …
[Harris] hasn’t done anything to change that,” added Scott Holiday,
executive director of Detroit Action, a voter mobilisation group.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/10/harris-funding-swing-state-concerns