Democrats frustrated with poll showing voters see Trump as more moderate

Democrats are voicing frustrations at polling that shows more voters see former President Trump as the moderate candidate in the presidential race against Vice President Harris. 

Democrats for years have cast Trump as an extremist who is a threat to democracy. But a poll released by The New York Times and Siena College found more voters see Harris as too liberal than see Trump as too conservative.

Democrats in Congress were stunned by the notion that Trump could be viewed as the more moderate figure.

“This may be the first question posed to me during my six years for which I don’t have an immediate response, because it seems so incongruent with what I think to be reality,” said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.).

“It’s a mind-blowing contention that he’s the more moderate candidate. I’m literally speechless, other than recognizing that the perception must be — especially amongst right-wing media — that she’s just an uber-leftist,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s who she is.”

Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the Democratic whip, delivered a similar message of disbelief.

“The poll that matters is on Election Day, and I don’t think that Donald Trump is getting elected for his moderate views,” she said. “And if we’re now calling a national abortion ban, taking away veterans’ benefits, closing our public schools, moderate — god help us all.” 

The survey suggests GOP attacks on Harris have been effective in painting her as farther to the left and that Democratic attacks on Trump as an extremist have not landed as solidly.

And it left some Democrats complaining about the voters polled by the surveys.

“Donald Trump has no core values, so therefore he has been on either side of so many issues throughout his political career,” said Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau. “He’ll go to one crowd and say he’s going to do this and go to another crowd and say he’s going to do that. So it should not be surprising that there are some voters who see him in that light.” 

Mollineau argued that Trump has aligned himself with “the most conservative members of the Republican Party” and that Democrats need to do a better job of messaging to win over voters who see Trump as the more moderate candidate.

The New York Times/Siena poll out earlier this week revealed that only 32 percent of likely voters say Trump is “too conservative.”

When asked if Trump was too conservative, not conservative enough, or not too far either way, 49 percent say he is “not too far either way”

Asked about Harris, 47 percent of likely voters said they viewed her as “too liberal or progressive,” 9 percent said “not liberal or progressive enough” and 41 percent said “not too far either way.” 

The poll unnerved Democrats who have lauded the Harris campaign’s efforts in taking a more centrist tack since becoming the nominee. Harris has moved toward the center on taxes from President Biden, for example, and she has dropped her call for a ban on fracking, a critical issue in the swing state of Pennsylvania.

Phillips acknowledged that Harris is vulnerable to attacks from the right after shifting to the left during the Democrats’ 2020 presidential primary.

Harris ran for president in the 2020 cycle and adopted a number of liberal positions as she battled candidates such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the Democratic primary.

“Vice President Harris, because of her pivot to the left during the 2020 election, clearly has baggage — at least amongst Independents and moderate Republicans — that she’s going to have to address,” he said.

But he also argued that Harris is the much more moderate figure — and was incredulous that the contest would be framed otherwise.

Democratic strategist Nayyera Haq said voters have forgotten what Trump was like in office.

“This is the challenge of Trump having been around for so long, some people are forgetting how dangerous and erratic he was in the White House,” she said.  

“His own chief of staff and military generals consider him a national security risk, and Trump suggested putting bleach in your veins to cure COVID. The entire Trump presidency induced mass anxiety on the public, no policy statement can change that.”

The vice president said in an interview late last month that being vice president has offered her a new perspective on issues including immigration and fracking. She suggested that if she has shifted her policies on those issues, she has not changed her values.

“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash.

In recent weeks, the Harris campaign has sought to court independents and moderate Republicans, not only through proposals such as offering a more modest capital gains tax hike on the wealthy, but also in unveiling a string of Republican endorsements, including from former Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.). 

The speakers on the final night of the Democratic National Convention — from former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) — were also intended to send a message to moderate voters. 

It was also intended to counterattack efforts by Trump and the GOP to present Harris, an attorney general and former U.S. senator from California, as a San Francisco liberal.

One Democratic strategist conceded, “Being a Black female politician from San Francisco is going to invoke visions of ‘wild-eyed liberal’ even when you’re not.”

Another strategist said the worry among some Democrats is that Trump will be successful in distancing himself from conservative positions. Trump has run against cutting Social Security and Medicare, and he’s moved to the center in GOP debates on abortion.

He’s also responsible for overturning the Roe v. Wade decision, given his three Supreme Court appointments, and has sought to build a wall on the southern border. How can voters see that candidate as the moderate choice, some Democrats say.

Yet this isn’t new for Trump.

A Pew Research survey in 2016 showed that 32 percent of voters viewed then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as liberal on almost all issues, while 26 percent said she was liberal on most issues and 28 percent said she was a mix of liberal and conservative issues.

At the same time, 16 percent of those surveyed saw Trump as conservative on almost all issues, 28 percent said he was conservative on most issues and 40 percent said he was a mix of liberal and conservative. 

Republican strategist Kevin Madden, who served as a senior aide to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) during his 2012 presidential campaign, said presidential contests “are all about comparison.” 

“A perfect example would be Biden, who looked and sounded like a centrist compared with the rest of his party,” Madden said. “Trump when compared to Harris and her previously stated positions as an authentic progressive, has worked to present himself as more mainstream and in line with working-class concerns. 

“Look, it’s not a simple or easy path for either of these candidates to credibly claim the centrist mantle in this race, but Trump is gaining an edge there,” he said.  

This story was updated at 7:01 p.m.