Michael Winiarski: Questions Harris Must Answer

According to available polls, voters have greater confidence in Donald Trump than Kamala Harris in two key areas.

It's a question of economics and immigration.

The gap has narrowed in recent weeks, but Trump still has the upper hand on both issues.

Harris has said she will “secure the border” and reform immigration policy, but that remains unclear.

But will it help?

As for the economy, there is Conditions for getting better ratings from voters. The economy somehow lives a life of its own.

No economist would claim that inflation has a simple explanation or can be blamed on the president. Most agree that Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package introduced in March 2021 to stimulate the United States after the Covid pandemic contributed to the inflation shock.

But in this case, the burden of the debt must be shared with whoever represents it. No American president has succeeded in reducing the national debt as much as Trump, especially through radical tax cuts for high-income earners.

The former president doesn’t pretend to. During the Republican National Convention in July, Trump claimed that “inflation will completely disappear” once he becomes president.

Some in his loyal party base may believe such delusions. But do skeptical voters do too? If so, it could swing the election in Trump’s favor.

Inflation is now at a three-year low of 2.9 percent year-on-year, and Harris will use that to campaign.

Trump, of course, is blaming Harris. For tough times. Harris responded Friday, saying: I have unveiled an economic plan that focuses on three things: lower food prices, lower housing costs, and tax credits for newborns.

It remains to be seen how much that will impress voters, given that everything has become more expensive. Food prices, for example, are 21 percent higher than they were three years ago.

She can't escape the fact that she was Biden's vice president for three and a half years.

The most difficult thing to manage, far from disarming, is immigration policy, but even here Harris has eaten away at some of the huge lead Trump had over Biden.

The Trump campaign calls her the “border czar,” the White House official in charge of the border. But Harris was not in charge of illegal border crossings, which are handled by the Department of Homeland Security. Biden’s mission was to address the root causes of migration from Central American countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

Harris is trying to shed the “border manager” title.

But she can't escape the fact that she was Biden's vice president for three and a half years.

It has pursued a relatively refugee-friendly policy that no one wants to know about anymore.