Poll Shows Kamala Harris Tanking in Iowa Despite Strategy to ‘F*cking’ Move There

Kamala Harris and Stephanie Valencia speak onstage at the MoveOn Big Ideas Forum at The Wa
Kimberly White/Getty Images for MoveOn
Hannah Knudsen

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is tanking in Iowa – despite a switch in campaign strategies to blitz the state, sarcastically telling a colleague in September that she is “f*cking moving” to the Hawkeye State – Emerson Polling results released this week reveal.

The California senator has experienced a steady decline in both national and early primary and caucus state polls in recent weeks. The trend was seemingly sparked by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s (D-HI) pointed attack on Harris’s controversial prosecutorial record – jailing hundreds of people for marijuana violations and later making light of smoking marijuana – during the Democrat debate in July.

Harris signaled a switch in campaign strategies in September, telling a colleague that she is  “f*cking moving to Iowa.”

“‘I’m f*cking moving to Iowa’ – Kamala Harris,” read an email following the presidential hopeful’s quip.

“She cut to the chase!” the email stated. “We’re doubling our organizers on the ground in Iowa and Kamala is ramping up her time on the trail there, beginning today in Cedar Rapids.”

The following month, Harris launched her “I feel your pain” tour across Iowa, which featured the presidential hopeful speaking to Iowans in more “intimate” settings, even helping some “prepare Sunday suppers.”

Despite the Iowa push, Harris continues to tank in the polls, with the latest Emerson Polling survey showing Harris garnering just two percent among Democrat caucus-goers in Iowa.

The poll, taken October 13-16, 2019 among 313 Democrat caucus voters, showed Joe Biden (D) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) topping the field with 23 percent support each. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) overtook Sanders for third place with 16 percent support to the Vermont senator’s 13 percent.

Andrew Yang (D) came in fifth place with five percent support, followed by Gov. Steve Bullock (D) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) with four percent and three percent, respectively.

Harris, who once mocked Gabbard’s low poll numbers, tied with both the Hawaiian lawmaker and Tom Steyer (D), with two percent support. The margin of error is +/- 5.5 percent:

Harris mocked Gabbard following their contentious face-off in July’s debate, telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper:

This is going to sound immodest, but I’m obviously a top tier candidate, and so, I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight because there are a lot of people that are trying to make the stage for the next debate.

“Especially when people are at zero or one percent or whatever she might be at, and so, I did expect that I might take hits tonight,” she added, a direct reference to Gabbard:

Harris continues to struggle in national polls, dropping to fifth place with 5.2 percent in the current Real Clear Politics average, behind Biden, Warren, Sanders, and Buttigieg.

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