Clinton Never Recovered From ‘Deplorables’ Comment – Harris is Avoiding the Same Mistake

Vice President Kamala Harris is riding a wave of strong polling and fundraising after becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.

Following an energized convention in Chicago last week, Harris is in a much stronger position than Biden prior to his exit. But the race is far from over as Harris and Trump will spend the next few months on the campaign trail trying to win support from undecided voters in swing states.

However, Harris has seemed unwilling to be interviewed in any meaningful way and has not subjected herself to the scrutiny of a tough political interviewer since succeeding Biden as nominee.

This may in part be be explained by a desire to avoid making the same disastrous mistake the then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made during her 2016 presidential bid.

During a fundraiser in New York on September 10, 2016, Clinton remarked that half of Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables” who did not represent America. The other half, she noted, were simply people who were desperate for change.

“To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables,'” Clinton said. “Unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”

The line sparked a wave of backlash, with critics accusing Clinton of attacking everyday Americans. While many defended her—noting that she was not talking about all of his voters—the line has been attributed as a key mistake that contributed to her loss against Trump.

Avoiding such a gaffe may be a key priority for Harris over the coming weeks. Newsweek reached out to the Harris campaign for comment via email.

Democratic strategist Matt Bennett told Newsweek while Clinton’s line was not alone “fatal,” it “underscored a central point of the Trump campaign, which is that Democrats look down on his voters.”

Harris has so far avoided such a mistake, he said.

“So far, Harris and Walz have kept the focus of their attacks entirely on Trump, Vance, and the people on their team. They made very clear, through endless repetition at the convention, that they not only respect Trump voters and understand their lives, but they actually want them to be part of our big tent coalition,” he said.

Distinguishing between Trump and his supporters is “vital” for Democrats, he added.

During the convention, Harris made a clear appeal to independent voters and moderate Republicans. While she emphasized issues like abortion and healthcare, two of Democrats’ strongest issues, she also embraced more moderate rhetoric on immigration and national security.

She played up her record as a prosecutor, a rebuke of Republicans’ attack that she may be “soft on crime.” The convention also prominently featured anti-Trump Republicans including former Representative Adam Kinzinger.

Costas Panagopoulos, a political science professor at Northeastern University told Newsweek candidates must be “very careful” about what they say, particularly “in an age in which snippets of that information can be so easily circulated and shared online.”

“Candidates have to exercise some judgment in what they say, how they say it to avoid alienating voters while energizing supporters and their base,” he said.

Harris must take a “measured approach” to how she expresses her views on the campaign trail, he said.

“Some of that comes from preparation and thinking about ways of expressing things before those statements are made. And then having a very clear awareness on the campaign trail when making spontaneous comments that could potentially insult certain groups of voters and avoiding those kinds of comments,” he said.

He warned that Trump’s campaign will be “tracking everything she says and looking for moments like that to exploit.”

Tatishe Nteta, director of the UMass poll and a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, told Newsweek Clinton’s comments were not alone as damaging as people believe, but reflected concerns among some voters that her campaign was not taking into account the concerns of independents.

However, Harris and other Democrats have seemed to learn from those mistakes, he said. She has focused her attention on representing the future, and on Trump’s policies being “antithetical to the values and preferences of the public.”

Harris has not made a “clear mistake” as the nominee, he said. Polls show that she has made gains over Trump among independent voters who may have viewed Biden in a negative light, he said.

“What you’re finding in this election is that Harris recognizes a lot of these mistakes that Hillary Clinton made. The Democratic Party after three election cycles has figured out a strategy to run against Donald Trump,” he said.

Meena Bose, executive dean of Hofstra University’s Peter S. Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy and International Affairs, told Newsweek the “basket of deplorables” comment became a “defining moment” of the race and was “highly problematic” for Clinton.

“If Harris stays on message as she did with the convention speech, then she is less likely to have a major verbal misstep as Clinton did at a 2016 NY Democratic fundraiser,” Bose said.

Adrian Hemond, CEO of Grassroots Midwest, described the “basket of deplorables” line as simply “one embarrassing moment from an embarrassingly bad campaign.”

“Harris needs to keep focused on the future and on presenting herself as an acceptable alternative to moderate and independent voters who are skeptical of both Donald Trump and of the Democratic Party brand,” he said.

Harris can win over independents by doing more unscripted appearances that can highlight the age contrast between her and Trump, he said.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll from September 2016 indicated a majority of voters disapproved of Clinton’s remark. The poll found that 65 percent of respondents reacted negatively to the comments and that 68 percent of independents believed her words were “unfair.”