One of Donald Trump’s pollsters may be risking his job by actually telling the erratic and truth-seeking former president the truth.
Pollster Tony Fabrizio sent a memo to the Trump campaign warning that Vice President Kamala Harris would become the presumptive Democratic nominee.
In a memo shared with reporters, Fabrizio noted that the blanket media coverage of Harris since President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he would not run for reelection was likely to lead to a “Harris honeymoon” in the polls.
“The coverage will be largely positive and will energize Democrats and some other factions in the coalition, at least in the short term,” Fabrizio said. “What this means is that we’re going to see Harris catching up with or even ahead of President Trump in the polls, especially nationally.”
Real Clear Politics currently projects Trump to be about 2 percentage points ahead of Harris, and that’s likely within the margin of error.
While Trump enjoyed support from voters following the Republican National Convention and the assassination attempt, Fabrizio said Biden’s election was made more difficult by the fact that he was the first major party candidate to step down with less than four months until Election Day. “Unknown territory.”
“Given what’s happened over the last few days and her impending vice presidential pick, there’s no doubt Harris will be on the upswing ahead of the Democratic convention,” Fabrizio said. “And that upswing will likely start to show up over the next few days and continue for some time until the race stabilizes again.”
Campaign pitches like the one Fabrizio suggested are common during election cycles, but Fabrizio wants to manage expectations about Trump, so he includes ones that are designed to look more positively at the former president.
“Even if the Democrats switch from one candidate to another, voters’ discontent over the economy, inflation, crime, open borders, housing costs and two foreign wars will not change,” he said. “Sooner or later, Harris’s ‘honeymoon’ will be over and voters will refocus on her role as Biden’s partner and pilot.”
The Huffington Post reached out to Fabrizio and the Trump campaign for comment, but no one immediately responded.
The full note can be read below.
