Kamala Harris’ secret campaign weapon may be that she is having a blast. It shows.

Even though she’s been vice president for almost four years, voters are still getting to know Kamala Harris. Her favorability ratings increased in just one week of her becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, especially among indepedents. That’s before the Democratic convention, which is guaranteed to be a week-long ad for her candidacy.

There are a lot of reasons for Harris’ surge. For one thing, voters are relieved that they don’t have to pick between two old men, a race that polls have shown was very unpopular. That’s especially true among relieved Democrats, who view Harris as delivering them from certain defeat.

Related:

Evangelicals oppose IVF & hate LGBTQ+ people because of this one strange belief

It neither involves Satan nor the sanctity of human embryos.

But perhaps the most intriguing characteristic about Harris as a candidate is how much she seems to enjoy being one. Out on the stump, she is all smiles, exuberant, energetic, and upbeat. No wonder that in his endorsement, Barack Obama labeled her a “happy warrior,” a description that was widely used to describe another Democratic presidential nominee, Hubert Humphrey. Perhaps with Humphrey’s failure in mind, others have taken to calling Harris a joyful warrior, a description that she herself has used as long ago as 2017.

Dive deeper every day

Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues

Daily

Weekly

Good News

The phrase is useful shorthand for some of the characteristics that make Harris Harris – her laugh, her sense of humor, and her frequent smiles. In a normal campaign, it would be a nice nickname, but in this campaign, it might actually mean a lot more. It could be the very thing that carries Harris to the White House.

Polls show that voters are tired of the current political landscape. The word that comes most often to mind is “exhausted,” followed closely by “angry.” Much of this has to do with what has euphemistically been called polarization but is more accurately called Republican extremism. The incendiary rhetoric, coupled with the refusal to let anything get passed in Congress, is a hallmark of the GOP brand, but it comes at the expense of Democrats as much as Republicans.

The most tiring (and tiresome) figure of all is Trump, of course. His endless barrage of lies and attacks, as well as his constant harping on personal slights, may animate his base, but it leaves a lot of voters cold. It’s a major reason why he lost the election in 2020. Add to that the January 6 insurrection and the pandemic, and Trump is associated with (and in the case of the former, facilitated) one of the darkest periods in modern American history.

Trump is running a campaign that is a retread of his greatest grievances: his election loss, his felony conviction, and indictments. These are all the things that most candidates would run away from, but Trump is, in fact, compounding them, going out of his way this weekend to attack Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a fellow Republican whose assistance he will badly need to win the state, of being “disloyal” for not helping Trump overturn the 2020 election results. (That’s one of the sets of indictments Trump faces.)

Compare that to Harris’ campaign appearances to date. They have been relentlessly upbeat. Her tone is sunny, and even when she goes on the attack against Trump, she smiles. She’s lightened the tone compared to the Biden campaign. Trump isn’t a threat to democracy so much as he’s just plain weird. (She’s gotten an able assist in that branding from Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who has become the butt of a joke about having sex with a couch.)

Harris’ approach is a breath of fresh air, and not just for Democrats. The choice for voters is between a smiling Harris and a scowling Trump. If you’ve been exhausted by Trump’s parade of me-me-me, you would be looking for the alternative, and there she is.

As a reminder, voters often vote on their feelings. People loved Ronald Reagan, even when they disapproved of his performance. His jovial personality appealed to the public, even though his policies are at the root of much of the economic inequality in our nation today and paved the way for Trump. Compared to earnest Jimmy Carter (who had a recession and a hostage crisis on his hands), Reagan was a breath of fresh air, too. People wanted a change.

People wanted a change in this election as well. They wanted different candidates. They got half their wish. Now Harris is giving every indication that she’s having the time of her life running for president. It could be just the change in attitude that voters want.

Don't forget to share: