Harris Isn’t Focusing on Biden’s VP Search: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- California Senator Kamala Harris said Thursday that her mother would have some advice for her as she is being considered as a potential running mate for Democratic nominee Joe Biden: Stay focused and continue to deal with issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic and police reform.

“She would have said, ‘Baby, just focus on what’s right in front of you and the next thing, whatever it’s meant to be, will come,’” Harris said when asked about her vice-presidential prospects by Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart on his podcast.

Harris, who ran for the nomination against Biden, is one of several women who are contenders for the Democratic ticket. Others include former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Representative Val Demings of Florida and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusuetts.

On the podcast, Harris also criticized President Donald Trump’s reaction to reports that Russia paid the Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. “It is well known that it is part of the responsibility of the president of the United States to concern himself or herself with the protection of the people who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the security of the country,” she said. “Frankly, we’re just not seeing it from Donald Trump.”

On police reform, Harris was asked why she, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and her co-sponsor on a police reform bill, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, won’t negotiate with Senate Republicans on their rival bill. Harris said the Republican bill was flawed because it didn’t ban chokeholds by police officers and no-knock warrants in drug cases.

Young Voters View Trump as Racist, Survey Shows (1:20 p.m.)

More than two-thirds of young voters believe President Donald Trump is a racist and a plurality see racism as the most important issue facing the country and in the presidential election, according to a GenForward survey of people 18 to 36 years old.

Following the wave of protests after the killing in police custody of George Floyd, 69% of young Americans believe Trump is a racist compared with 30% who say he is not, the survey showed. The numbers are nearly flipped for Joe Biden: 32% say the Democratic nominee is a racist and 66% believe he is not. Among African American voters, 81% believe Trump is a racist and 73% believe Biden is not.

Nearly four in 10 African Americans and over a quarter of Latino young adults said racism was the most important issue in the U.S. It was the second most important issue for Asian and white voters who chose the coronavirus pandemic by a few percentage points. Broken down by party, racism was the top issue listed by Democratic and independent young voters and the second most important issue for young Republicans.

“The prevalence of racism as a framework for how young people are thinking about this moment and the election is clear in this data,” said Cathy Cohen, a professor at the University of Chicago who was the principal investigator for the survey. She added that racism has been the top issue for young African Americans for several years. “For a very long time young African Americans have been saying look our lives are in fact structured by systemic racism,” she said.

The survey found Biden leading Trump by 22 percentage points among all young voters, 47% to 25%. It was conducted May 29-June 11 and has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Poll Shows Half of Voters Have Ruled Out Trump (11:00 a.m.)

Half of American voters say they’ve ruled out voting for President Donald Trump in November, according to a poll released Thursday.

A Monmouth University poll found 50% of registered voters have decided they will not vote for the incumbent; 39% say the same about Democratic nominee Joe Biden. About the same amount of voters, 40%, say they will certainly vote for Biden; 34% say the same about Trump. The poll was conducted June 26-30 and has a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.

“Trump showed in 2016 that he can thread the needle, but these results suggest the president has even less room for error in 2020,” Patrick Murray, Monmouth University Polling Institute director, said in a statement. “He must convert some of those unlikely supporters if he is to win a second term.”

Biden leads Trump by 12 percentage points nationally among registered voters, 53% to 41%. He led by similar margins in Monmouth’s June poll, 52% to 41%, and the month prior where Biden led 50% to 41%.

The double-digit lead reflects other recent polls. -- Emma Kinery

Coming Up

On Friday, President Donald Trump will attend a 4th of July celebration at Mount Rushmore.

Biden will attend a fundraiser with Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth on July 7.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for the week beginning Aug. 17 in Milwaukee, while the Republicans are slated to meet a week later with events in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida.

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