Axelrod: Harris momentum leaning heavily on 'irrational exuberance'

Democratic strategist David Axelrod warned that much of the energy among Democrats about Vice President Harris’s campaign is just “irrational exuberance,” as the race remains neck-and-neck.

Harris’s campaign has come out to a quick start, breaking fundraising records and significantly cutting into former President Trump’s previous lead in polls since she replaced President Biden at the top of the ticket.

“She has a lot of momentum, but if you do look at the polling, this is still a really tight race,” he said. “This is going to be a hard fight for either side. It's based on the numbers we're seeing right now.” 

“Look, I mean, there's a lot of irrational exuberance on the side of on the Democratic side of the aisle right now, because there was despair for some period of time about what the November was gonna look like,” he continued. “Now people feel like there's a chance.”

Despite that optimism, Axelrod said, the balance remains in Trump’s favor.

“It’s absolutely Trump's race to lose right now. He is ahead,” he said. “And he is ahead in most of the battleground states. They're close, they can be won by either candidate.”

Axelrod was among the top Democrats urging Biden to leave the 2024 campaign but hasn’t joined the fervor for Harris alongside other party members. He warned last week that Trump remains a “pretty substantial favorite” over the vice president.

The vice president became the official Democratic nominee in a virtual roll call vote last week and is set to announce her own vice presidential pick before a Tuesday campaign event. 

Polling remains tight in the race, with Trump holding a slim 1.1 percent lead over Harris in The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average national polls. In battleground states, polling shows both candidates within the margin of error. The most recent The Hill/Decision Desk HQ prediction model gives Trump a 56 percent chance of winning the White House.