Kamala Harris Struggles to Break Through With Working Class

Democrats have privately grown worried about Kamala Harris’s standing among working-class voters in the crucial “blue-wall” states—particularly in Michigan.

Michigan Democrats have urged the campaign to make more overt appeals to auto workers and blue-collar workers by emphasizing the administration’s work to grow the industry and build new plants.

Others want Harris to make a more populist pitch, a message that was central to appearances around the state last weekend by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain. During an event in Grand Rapids on Sunday, Sanders pressed for progressive goals such as higher minimum wages, an expansion of Social Security and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations—all under the banner of the party’s need to elect Harris and defeat Trump.

An internal poll done by Democrat Tammy Baldwin’s Senate campaign last week showed Harris down by 3 percentage points in Wisconsin, while Baldwin was up by two points, according to a person familiar with the poll. The person said much of the narrowing is due to Republicans’ strength with noncollege-educated men. Public polling has shown Harris with a slight lead in the state.

Michigan Democrats have urged the campaign to schedule more time for the candidate in their state after she made only two trips in September. Harris has been to Michigan five times since she became the candidate and has appeared in other battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin during that time.