Base maximization strategies take over the 2024 election.
Vice President, and newly minted Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her own vice-presidential running mate. Although it’s too early to tell how exactly critical swing voters will react to Walz, Harris’s choice follows a similar path chosen by Donald Trump—one aimed at pleasing ideological base voters rather than reaching out to the electoral middle in a race with razor-thin margins nationally and in the battleground states.
On the GOP side, former president Trump managed to squander public goodwill after an assassination attempt and stepped on a mostly well-orchestrated party convention to pursue his usual list of petty grievances and self-indulgences rather than showing on-the-fence Americans that he is worthy of a second chance.
His choice of J.D. Vance for vice president was also a head-scratcher in purely electoral terms. Vance is the darling of the post-liberal, “America First” crowd of Republicans but appears to have scant appeal to the rest of the country. Since the RNC, Vance’s past statements about women and his attempted clean-ups have not endeared him to a large chunk of the electorate. Meanwhile, Trump himself is mostly absent from campaigning and is moping about trying to find a hit on Harris that will stick as his poll numbers tighten.
