Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Well let's get some more analysis on the Democratic National Convention now and cross over to
00:04speak to Morris Reid, a former official for Bill Clinton, the former US President.
00:10And Morris Reid is also a political strategist from Chicago.
00:13Morris, it's great to have you on the program.
00:16Thanks so much for joining us.
00:18It's of course a big night for Vice President Kamala Harris.
00:21She's set to give the biggest speech of her political career as she ceremonially accepts
00:25her party's nomination.
00:28What message will she need to get across to voters with the elections being just three
00:31months away?
00:32First and foremost, she needs to be her authentic self.
00:37What you've seen under Kamala Harris in these last 30 days is her true self, unlike when
00:42she ran for president in 2019, where she was more of a politician, she wasn't as successful,
00:48being authentic and relatable are the critical things.
00:52But most importantly, as those two are, she must speak to the American people's fears,
00:57dreams and aspirations.
00:58She needs to talk in terms, just like her vice president for election, the governor,
01:03talk in terms that Americans understand, they care about inflation, they care about gas
01:09prices, they care about rent.
01:10She needs to talk to them in a way that's relatable, it's understandable, but they feel
01:15that their presidential candidate understands their issues.
01:19Morris, the Democratic National Convention over the past few days has resembled somewhat
01:24of a big political party.
01:26There's been a lot of focus on joy and contrasting that message with Trump's agenda.
01:32But some critics say there hasn't been enough emphasis on policy.
01:35Give us your thoughts on that.
01:36Well, I think that there's some truth in that.
01:40And you can say that about the Republican Convention as well.
01:44One of the things that they need to do right now is to really build the enthusiasm gap.
01:48As you know, Democrats were not in a great place 30 days ago.
01:52They've now built that enthusiasm gap.
01:54They now need to turn that enthusiasm to actual messaging, voter identification, and motivate
02:00people to get to the polls.
02:01So that criticism is fair.
02:03And I think that Harris has to do this today, beginning today, paint that narrative, continue
02:08to push the narrative through the debate and start to speak to the American people on issues
02:12that really matter to them, policy driven issues, but pocketbook issues really more
02:16than anything else.
02:17And I think we can all agree that there's been quite a bit of electricity coming out
02:21of Chicago over the past few days from this convention.
02:25How do you think the Trump camp is feeling right now after seeing all of this sort of
02:30partying and revelry going on in Chicago?
02:33Well, this is always one thing about politics.
02:36It's never as good as you think or never as bad as you think.
02:39It looks pretty good for the Democrats right now, particularly as it looked 30 days ago.
02:44It looks challenging for Republicans, again, from 30 days ago.
02:48We're in the beginning of the real race, post-convention, into the debate, mid-October.
02:55That's really what will decide the vote, the vote and who's going to win this election.
02:59So it seems great for the Democrats right now.
03:01It's important that they have enthusiasm to connect with their base.
03:04But the race really starts post the convention, the debate, and then getting into the real
03:10issues in October.
03:13Maybe it is too early to speak on the polls, but have we seen the Democratic National Convention
03:18have any sort of impacts on the polls right now?
03:21Sure.
03:22Anytime you have, look at the same thing with Trump hat.
03:26Anytime you select your vice president, anytime you go to your convention, you always get
03:30a bump.
03:31I expect that the Harris campaign will get a five to 10 point bump come out of this convention.
03:37Will that be sustainable?
03:38I'm not for sure.
03:39But if you don't get the bump coming out of your convention, it certainly makes it
03:43more challenging for you to win the election.
03:45So she has money.
03:46She has momentum.
03:47Let's see how it goes around September 10th when the first debate happens and then mid-October
03:52when we really start to have people focus on the issues that matter to them when they
03:57go to vote in November.
03:59Maurice Reed there.
04:00Thank you so much for your analysis here on France 24.
04:03That's Maurice Reed, a former official for Bill Clinton, the former US president and
04:08a political strategist from Chicago.
04:10Thanks so much for joining us on the program.