Vice President Kamala Harris made an aggressive move to cut into Donald Trump’s polling lead on immigration, traveling to the southern border for the first time as the Democratic nominee on Friday to lay out her plans to tackle what she described as a problem that has languished for decades.
Harris, during her trip to the key swing state of Arizona, lambasted Trump for his role earlier this year in tanking a border security bill that was the product of months of bipartisan negotiations.
It was one of Harris’ more specific policy speeches since becoming the Democratic nominee, attempting to use her past as California’s attorney general to prove that she has what it takes to attack Trump on his signature issue.
The former president responded to Harris’ border trip by amping up his own rhetoric on immigration. Highlighting violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, Trump told a crowd in Walker, Michigan, that Harris “delivered these horrors.”
Trump also falsely again accused Democrats of letting people enter the country illegally because “they want the votes.” Non-citizens cannot vote in US elections — a reality ignored by Trump, who for years has lied about widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
The Democratic offensive on immigration and border security is an attempt to cut into one of Trump’s clearest-cut political advantages. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS released this week found the former president is trusted by 49% of likely voters to handle immigration, while Harris is trusted by 35%.
Harris on Friday also laid out proposals to strengthen restrictions that have largely barred migrants from seeking asylum in the United States. And she said she would seek paths to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as children.
2024 race takes a backseat
A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS on Friday showed Harris with a comfortable lead for a single electoral college vote in Nebraska that could have outsized implications.
Nebraska awards one electoral college vote to the winner of each congressional district. The poll of the Omaha-based 2nd District found Harris leading in the state’s most liberal region, with 53% support to Trump’s 42%.
That single electoral vote could be critical if Harris sweeps the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but loses the four Sun Belt swing states – Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina. That could leave her with 269 electoral college votes – and one more from Nebraska could give her the 270 needed to win the White House.