GOP Pollster Points Out a ‘Mind-Blowing’ Thing Donald Trump Doesn’t Seem To Get Right Now

Frank Luntz, a longtime Republican pollster, recently shared his thoughts on what he sees as a major oversight by Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race. Luntz pointed out something he finds "mind-blowing" about Trump's campaign strategy speaking on CNN. The race between Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is tight. CNN's Brianna Keilar asked Luntz what either candidate needs to do to pull ahead in the polls. Luntz's answer was clear. "Let me be explicit," he said. "It's not, in fact, the economy; it's affordability. It's prices for housing and health care, for food and fuel. And this has been the issue now for the last year."

He explained that affordability is Trump's strongest argument for his presidency. "It is mind-blowing to me that Trump doesn't seem to understand this and that Harris has not been more forthcoming about the details of her economic plan," Luntz remarked. He added, "Both of those are essential to the outcome and both of those makes an observer like me wonder, 'What the heck is going on?'" Luntz thinks that if Trump really zeroed in on making things affordable, he would be "in the driver's seat on the two key issues, immigration and affordability," as per HuffPost. 

Trump's recent speech on economic plans in Georgia was criticized for lacking substance. Harris is expected to announce new economic policies soon. Luntz also commented on Harris' planned visit to the southern border. He thinks this move might backfire for her campaign. "I actually would have advised against it," Luntz said. "Her time to have gone to the border was last year or the year before that, and now it only highlights the fact that she hasn't really focused on this issue, even though she had some- we can’t determine what the actual responsibility was that she had in the administration because it’s been muddied."

The border visit could remind voters of the immigration challenges under the current administration. Border Patrol agents have encountered 7 million migrants since the beginning of fiscal year 2021, according to data from Customs and Border Protection. "This is an area that Donald Trump can say, 'Just look at the numbers, look at the immigration statistics,' look at the illegal immigration that took place under his administration and under the Biden-Harris administration."

Luntz criticized Trump's messaging on immigration. He said, "But once again, he starts to focus on eating dogs and cats. I don't understand this, it's as though he's trying to lose this race." The pollster also touched on the importance of addressing voters' concerns. "They're tired of the yelling, of shows," Luntz said during a heated CNN panel discussion. "They don't want to know who did it. They want to know how you're going to fix it. Stop trying to blame people and start fixing it, start getting it done now," as per Mediaite.