How Harris is reversing Biden’s biggest weakness in the campaign

CNN —

Kamala Harris has quickly erased several of the advantages Donald Trump enjoyed over Joe Biden when it comes to the key personal attributes voters prize in a president. But the most formidable personal quality voters see in the former president – his perceived strength – still looms as a critical obstacle Harris must overcome to win the White House.

Voters have long viewed Trump as a strong leader, capable of keeping them safe, and as they grew more skeptical about Biden’s physical and mental capacity, Trump’s advantage grew to towering proportions this year.

But Harris’ energy and strong, confident speaking style at her boisterous rallies over just the past three weeks ago have stirred optimism among Democrats that she can reset the debate over strength and neutralize, or at least reduce, Trump’s traditional edge on that measure.

“American politics over the last decade has been defined by a frame that Donald Trump has imposed on it and has worked to his benefit, which is this strength frame,” said Democratic pollster Evan Roth Smith, who is leading the ongoing “Blueprint” project to measure voter attitudes about key themes in the 2024 presidential race. “Kamala Harris entering the picture and the sea change that has occurred in this race … has [produced] this sigh of deep relief among voters that maybe we can close this chapter in American history. And that includes discarding the political frame around strength that Donald Trump imposed on our politics. Not just the man himself, but the frame.”

But to do that, it’s likely Harris will need to rebut an intensifying Republican effort to portray her as weak. That offensive is likely to center on issues relating to Americans’ physical security, including