Simmer down
In the two and a half months since Joe Biden stepped aside in favor of Kamala Harris, we’ve been really good in general when it comes to understanding the assignment. The stakes are too high, and the work is too important, for us to waste our time staring at our screens in fear or demotivate each other by yelling around about how we’re going to lose. But over the past week something has changed.
A week ago I warned you that the major media outlets were starting to spin up doomsday narratives about how Donald Trump was suddenly in the driver seat, and that Kamala Harris was suddenly in trouble. I told you that these narratives were based on nothing. The media was pulling individual numbers out of context, building “inside” stories based on anonymous quotes that obviously didn’t come from inside sources, and so on.
Sure enough, as the week has gone on, that trend has gotten worse. We’re now at a point where every legitimate polling outlet has Kamala Harris winning except one, and so of course the media is only quoting that one poll. You can’t get any more dishonest than that.
Yet nothing about this election has fundamentally changed over the past week. The polling averages give Harris the same lead that she had a week ago. Harris has spent the week doing a savvy nontraditional media blitz that may boost her numbers. Trump has spent the week sputtering. If anyone one the week, it’s Harris. So what is the media basing is decision on to go negative about Harris’ prospects? Nothing. Literally nothing. Because nothing has changed, other than the media’s desire to juice ratings during a week when the election has gotten stagnant enough that people might be tempted to temporarily tune out.
But even with all the warnings I’ve tried to give everyone, my inbox is still filling up with doomsday hysteria. Folks are emailing me in panicked, angry, or defeatist fashion, wanting to know if this or that thing they’ve heard from the media this week means they’re doomed. Much as I love hearing from you, please don’t send me these kinds of emails. I can’t talk people off a ledge individually all day and find time to do my job as a political analyst. But more importantly, stop panicking. It’s never, ever useful. It never increases your side’s odds of winning.
If you find yourself apprehensive about this election, instead of panicking or asking me if you should be panicking, turn your angst into something useful. First, turn off your TV. You’re not going to learn a single useful thing about this election from your TV at this stage of the game. Second, to quote the great Michelle Obama, do something. Instead of wasting your time staring at doomsday narratives on TV or Twitter, invest your time helping Kamala Harris win. For these final three weeks, if you ask me whether you should be worried about this or that headline, the only response you’re going to get from me is that you should be phone banking, knocking on doors, and helping turn out the vote. It’s where my focus is, and I hope it’s where you’ll put your focus as well. It’s how we win.
