In the heated aftermath of President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek reelection, the Democratic Party swiftly moved to unite behind Vice President Kamala Harris as their nominee. With the support of a substantial number of delegates and an endorsement from Biden himself, Harris stands poised as the frontrunner for the upcoming presidential race.

During Tuesday’s segment on MSNBC, Mika Brzezinski lambasted the Republican approach toward Harris. “Making fun of her voice, I mean we’re talking middle school stuff… and it’s not a good look,” Brzezinski said. Mara Gay, a New York Times editor, also made bold claims about the nature of the GOP’s strategy. Gay said that Republican tactics demonstrated a tendency to default to what she called “racist and sexist” responses when challenged by a strong Democratic contender.

“Their first instinct is just to be racist and sexist. I guess that’s like a tick that they’ve developed at this point,” Gay said. “When the AKAs hear that, they’re gonna march in formation to the poll,” Gay claimed, alluding to how African American sororities like Alpha Kappa Alpha might respond to so-called racial attacks.

“This is really not helping his case, but I guess voters in America know that. This is really not helping his case, but I guess that’s just their go-to line. If when all else fails, just try racism,” said Gay. Harris’s nomination would make her the first Black woman and the first Indian American to lead a major political party’s ticket in a presidential race.

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In the last 48 hours, Harris has rallied significant support from within her party and positioned herself as the opponent to Trump. Leveraging her credentials as California’s former attorney general and an Alameda County prosecutor, Harris laid out her campaign strategy in Monday’s address to her staff. Her experience, Harris argues, makes her uniquely qualified to take on former President Donald Trump in the upcoming election. However, many Americans don’t agree.

“For all of the excitement that Democrats have over Kamala Harris, it is going to be difficult to beat Donald Trump,” CNN’s senior data analyst Harry Enten said on Tuesday. The first hurdle, he said, will be Trump’s favorability ratings.

While Trump has consistently remained a polarizing figure among the electorate, the Republican leader now carries his highest rating on record since he was nearly shot and killed less than two weeks ago. After speaking at the Republican National Convention, Trump carries a 40% approval by ABC/Ipsos and a 46% approval according to Quinnipiac, both records for him.

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“Does Lyin’ Kamala Harris think Joe Biden is fit to run the U.S.A. for the next six months?” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “She must answer the question. Now it appears Joe is delegating his Presidential Authority to unelected Washington Bureaucrats! He doesn’t even trust his Vice President. WHO IS RUNNING THE COUNTRY?”

“The fact is, Donald Trump is more popular now than he ever has been before. So yes, Democrats can make this switcheroo, but they’re still going to have to beat Donald Trump – a Donald Trump who is stronger than he has ever been before,” Enten added.

Today, Trump leads Harris by 1%, “within the margin” of error and indicating a “close race.”

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