A leading Democratic strategist has warned his party that Donald Trump’s polling numbers could be misleading and they should not take them for granted.
James Carville, who rose to prominence for helping Bill Clinton to the White House in 1992, said that Trump traditionally under polls, which should worry his party.
Speaking on Bill Maher’s Real Time, Carville said: ‘I tell Democrats, some caution here. First of all most quants [quantitative analysts] say we have to win by three in the popular vote.
‘So when you see a poll that says we are two up, well actually you are one down if the poll is correct.
‘Trump traditionally, when he is on a ballot, chronically under polls. They came back late in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in 2020 and it showed Biden winning these states by seven or eight points.’
When questioned by Maher if he believes Trump will do better than what the polls show, he added: ‘I’m saying traditionally he under-polls. I’m just telling you got to win by three and I think we can get that.
‘I think the debate on September 10 is going to be so consequential. It’s going to have an audience that we can’t believe, because what does America love, a train wreck.’
According to a recent CNN poll, Harris is now leading the race with 50 percent while Trump trails her by 2 percent at 48.
Findings by The New York Times published last week suggest the two presidential hopefuls are now in tight races across Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
Trump had seemed set to run away with these states just a few weeks ago, but new polling shows Harris is gradually erasing his lead.
He remains ahead in Georgia 50 percent to her 46, and in Nevada it is 48 percent for him while 47 for Harris.
Harris has claimed 49 percent of voters to Trump’s 47 in North Carolina, one of the core battleground states he carried in 2020.
The polls do continue to show some risk for Harris – including that 49 percent of voters see her as too liberal, while 33 percent of voters see Trump as too conservative.
Carville made headlines earlier this year while President Biden was still in the running after proclaiming his polls were the equivalent to ‘walking in on your grandma naked.’
He told the New York Times: ‘It’s like walking in on your grandma naked. You can’t get the image out of your mind.’
Despite his scathing take, Carville did add, ‘I actually like Biden. He’s a tenacious guy that’s had a real life.
‘He’s a state school guy. He doesn’t have an iota of elitism. He doesn’t even know what “woke” is.
‘He’s been demonstrably the best president that Black America’s ever had, Clinton and Obama included.
‘You look at incomes, employment, poverty rates, access to health care. It’s not where whites are, but it’s closer than it’s ever been.’
Despite his overall approval of the incumbent president, Carville said that he suspected there to be too many ‘preachy females’ in the party.
Prior to that Carville also made headlines after referring to Marjorie Taylor Greene and other Republicans who heckled Biden’s State of the Union speech as ‘white trash’.
‘I tell people I have the equivalent of a Ph.D. in white trashology, and you saw real white trash on display,’ Carville told MSNBC.
‘And let me say something about … Marjorie Taylor Greene. She dresses like white trash. She really needs a fashion consultant. Can I recommend George Santos?’