September Update From a DC Insider

[Mike McKenna is a long-time analyst/advisor/polling professional in Washington, DC. Also a former Trump staffer, he currently writes op/eds for the Washington Times. He sends out comprehensive state-of-play reports to a select email distribution, and allows me to share them with paid subscribers here. This is his report for August, 2024.]

From:  Michael McKenna

Re:      September 2024 Monthly Note

Date:   September 16, 2024

            The days have dwindled down to a precious few, and, unfortunately, we are going to spend these precious few days worrying over a presidential campaign.

The debate (and the voters who probably paid no attention to it)

The unavoidable and sometimes unpleasant reality of this presidential campaign is that it can be reduced to those voters who are for President Trump and those who are voting against the former president; in short, Trump Yes or Trump No.

The relative unimportance of the other candidate was made clear when the Democrats changed candidates in midstream and the alteration did not materially affect the campaign’s likely trajectory or its terminal point.

The change in candidates did, however, affect the recent debate.  Voters unable to see their way clear to voting for Mr. Trump needed some reassurance that Vice President Harris was not the giggling, unbright school girl that she sometimes appears to be; that she was, in fact, a credible alternative for the presidency.