Polling data shows Trump campaign’s difficulty in framing the conversation around Kamala Harris

CNN —

Heading into the Democratic National Convention, new data suggests that the Trump campaign’s initial attempts to frame the conversation about Vice President Kamala Harris have so far gained relatively little traction.

Instead, the public’s attention has remained largely focused around the Democratic nominee’s selection of a running mate and other facets of her campaign – a dynamic that could be reinforced for another week as the Democratic Party gathers in Chicago. Meanwhile, the public conversation around the GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, remains relatively unfocused in the quieter aftermath of a month of major news stories surrounding him.

The Breakthrough is a CNN polling project that tracks what average Americans are actually hearing, reading and seeing about the presidential candidates throughout the campaign. Charting the words used to describe each candidate, the project finds that in the weeks since Harris entered the race, the word “campaign” has been mentioned more frequently regarding Harris than Trump – a break from earlier in the summer, when the Trump campaign drew as much or more attention than President Joe Biden’s campaign.

In the most recent survey – conducted August 9-12 by SSRS and Verasight on behalf of a research team from CNN, Georgetown University and the University of Michigan –Americans were more likely to report hearing about Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for the Democratic vice presidential slot (and other news about the vice presidency, including her own current role) than any other topic. Slightly fewer mentioned other aspects of the Harris campaign, a broad category that includes the new ticket’s rally tour, fundraising totals, poll numbers or ads.