Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to double down on her economic message this week with a speech recasting her policy vision and a lengthy new document outlining her approach in more detail.
Her focus on the economy comes at a crucial time with many voters still skeptical of her ability to improve the economy, a central issue in the presidential campaign.
Harris’ economic speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday and a policy blueprint described by three people familiar with the matter are part of an effort by her campaign to weave together various economic proposals into a broader, thematic message.
During the condensed campaign trail, Ms. Harris has unveiled plans to help homebuyers, expand the child tax credit and raise taxes on big corporations and high-income earners. Like her Republican rival, former President Donald J. Trump, she has not released detailed plans for many other issues. The document she is expected to release will be about 80 pages outlining her economic policy priorities, but it is unclear how many specifics will be included.
A goal of Ms. Harris’ campaign is to present a concrete economic plan that can be contrasted with “Project 2025,” a conservative policy plan from which Mr. Trump has sought to distance himself, said a person familiar with the campaign’s thinking.
The Harris campaign declined to comment.
Many voters say they still want to know more about Harris, and the economy remains a top issue in the election: A recent New York Times/Siena College poll in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina found that 12% of voters who are open to changing their mind about the candidate said they were concerned about Harris’s economic policy. Trump leads in all three states.
Trump has long held an economic polling lead in the race, first against President Biden and then against his Democratic replacement, Harris. Many voters are pessimistic about the economy’s direction under a Biden-Harris administration and nostalgic about its performance under Trump. And they often blame the current administration for inflation surging before finally returning to historically normal levels over the past year.
But some recent polls have shown Ms. Harris has begun to narrow Mr. Trump’s economic lead, and there are signs that Americans are becoming a little more optimistic about the economy.The delicate balancing act for Ms. Harris will have to walk is how to distance herself from Mr. Biden’s policies, which she has barely touched since becoming the party’s nominee.
Outside groups supporting Harris have called on her to take a more direct, populist stance with voters about her economic philosophy, though they don’t always agree on what that should look like.
Democratic research firm Blueprint is pressing the vice president to blend his message of reducing the federal budget deficit with cracking down on “bad” companies that are allegedly unfairly scamming Americans.
“On the economy, Harris has a chance to rise to the challenge by offering a message focused on lowering prices, addressing fiscal challenges and pushing for targeted government action against companies that exploit consumers,” the company wrote in a battleground state polling note this week.
Other liberal groups are pressuring Harris to do more to portray herself as a supporter of consumers over big business.
“Harris should offer a diagnosis of why Americans don’t have the economic opportunities she wants,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Action in Washington. “This is key to connecting with voters on economic issues because it helps them understand what policy remedies Harris would implement if elected.”
Owens added, “Voters want to know whether the issue is that corporations have too much power and workers have too little power, or whether she’s worried about something else.”
