What Democrats’ excitement for Harris means and what it doesn’t — CBS News poll analysis

• More Democrats now say this election is about hope about what might happen, rather than fear.

• Democrats are excited about Kamala Harris, but she trails GOP nominee Donald Trump on some key issues among the electorate overall.

As Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to accept her party’s nomination for president, most Democrats are excited about her, and since she first became the presumptive nominee, more of them have said they’ll definitely vote. 

With this excitement, there’s also a more optimistic outlook. We’ve been asking whether in general voters see this election as more about hope for what could happen or fear for what might happen. For Democrats, hope now eclipses fear. 

While Democrats may be excited and strongly backing Harris, she still faces some of the same deficits with the broader electorate that President Biden did. Harris runs behind former President Donald Trump on some key issues in this election, like the economy.  

Harris may take the opportunity to re-introduce herself to the country — a third of voters say they don’t yet know what she stands for — and try to convince voters she would handle the issues that matter to them better than Trump.

Democrats excited about Harris

Two-thirds of Democrats are excited about Harris as the Democratic nominee, with majorities of Democratic men and women and both liberal and moderate Democrats feeling excited (although excitement is higher among liberals).  Nearly all Democrats are at least satisfied with Harris as their nominee. 

Along with excitement for Harris, as we reported on Sunday Democrats have continued to close the gap with Republicans in expressing their intention to definitely vote. They now are effectively even with Republicans in saying so. 

And Democrats are thinking about this election differently now — feeling more hopeful than fearful about what might happen. The percentage of Democrats who say the election is about hope has risen 17 points since the spring and now outnumbers those who say it’s about fear. 

What does Harris need to do?

Harris may have made this a closer race with Trump, but some factors in the race remain the same.

The economy and inflation are top issues for voters, and Harris trails Trump among those who say these issues are major factors in their vote, just as Mr. Biden did. And Trump leads Harris by an even greater margin among those who say the U.S.-Mexico border is a major factor for them. 

Harris does maintain advantages on other issues like abortion, the state of democracy and issues of race and diversity. 

Many voters don’t know where Harris stands

While most Democrats feel they know where Harris stands, many voters are still learning about her. A third of voters overall say they don’t know what she stands for, a number that rises to 44% among independents, a group she will try to  persuade to back the Harris-Walz ticket. 

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This analysis is based on a CBS News/YouGov survey conducted with a representative sample of 3,258 registered voters nationwide interviewed between August 14-16, 2024. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and the U.S. Census Current Population Survey, as well as past vote. Respondents were selected to be representative of registered voters nationwide. The margin of error for registered voters is ±2.1 points. 

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