A revealing leak of an internal Democratic Party report uncovers how extensive polling and strategic resources were directed towards First Lady Jill Biden, while Vice President Kamala Harris was seemingly overlooked, resulting in a lack of prepared research when she was unexpectedly added to the presidential ticket.
The 192-page document, commissioned by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), details how the Biden administration prioritized comprehensive polling to optimize Dr. Jill Biden’s public appearances, issue stances, and messaging to bolster her husband’s administration.
In stark contrast, no such efforts were made for Kamala Harris, leaving the party’s pollsters scrambling to conduct three emergency studies when President Biden stepped down in July 2024.
Paul Rivera, a seasoned Democratic strategist and the report’s author, criticizes this oversight as a ‘significant missed opportunity,’ highlighting the administration’s failure to effectively groom and prepare the Vice President for a potential face-off against Trump.
Rivera noted, “At the critical juncture of the candidate transition, the polling team realized there was an absence of internal research on the Vice President to inform the development of research tools.” He emphasized the dilemma of having an incumbent Vice President with no available data once she assumed the nomination.
Rivera further asserted, “Had the administration taken steps to evaluate and enhance Kamala Harris’s role earlier, it might have bolstered the President’s standing and undoubtedly equipped her better to lead the ticket.”
The autopsy proved so politically toxic that DNC Chair Ken Martin initially refused to publish it, only reversing course after outcry from within his own party.
Martin has since admitted that by burying the report, he created ‘an even bigger distraction’ in a statement on Thursday. The dossier was published by CNN with heavy annotations from the DNC disputing the accuracy of many of the report’s claims.
A 192-page dossier commissioned by the Democratic National Committee reveals that the Biden White House ordered extensive polling on the settings, issues, and messaging Jill Biden should use to support her husband’s presidency
The leaked autopsy reveals so much was lavished on the then-first lady, while Kamala Harris was left so neglected that aides had no research prepared when she was thrust onto the ticket
The autopsy proved so politically toxic that DNC chairman Ken Martin initially refused to publish it, only reversing course after outcry from within his own party
The report also blamed the Biden White House for failing to ‘contradict or correct’ Republican attacks that branded Harris as Biden’s ‘border czar’ during the height of the migrant crisis.
Biden faced widespread disapproval over his handling of the southern border, with record numbers of undocumented migrants flooding across each day at the peak of the crisis.
Biden’s staffers also failed to promote positive messages about Harris to the press, according to the report.
‘The national campaign did not effectively drive Trump’s negatives, and the White House did not effectively support Vice President Harris over three and a half years to improve her standing before the candidate switch,’ Rivera writes.
The autopsy’s wider verdict on Biden is no less brutal, finding that his ‘Bidenomics’ messaging tied him personally by name to the economic anxiety voters felt over the soaring cost of basic goods like eggs.
In one of the most damaging admissions of all, the report concludes that down-ballot Democrats might have faced ‘even steeper challenges’ had Biden refused to step aside and remained on the ticket against Trump.
Dial-testing during Biden’s catastrophic June 2024 debate against Trump ‘demonstrated the weakness of the President’s performance,’ the report states.
Biden famously appeared frail and stumbled over his words during his disastrous June 2024 debate against Trump.
Within weeks of his catastrophic performance, the 83-year-old was forced to drop out of the race.
He became the first incumbent president to abandon a re-election bid since Lyndon B Johnson in 1968, leaving Harris just 107 days to mount a White House campaign against a fully prepared Trump machine.
