ATLANTA — Brian Ramirez is voting for Vice President Harris — even canvassing for her. But he's not loving what she's been saying as she tries to persuade moderate Republicans and independent voters in the final days of the campaign.
Harris has been courting voters outside the traditional Democratic coalition to try to win tight races in swing states by appealing to their concerns about former President Donald Trump.
But the strategy has dampened enthusiasm among some progressives, who feel she's tacked too far right.
"It just hurts, when she says, 'I'll have Republicans in my cabinet' or she's campaigning with Liz Cheney," said Ramirez, who works with the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, and was part of a small group of grassroots organizers that NPR convened last week.
"When she speaks on the border, she speaks a lot on drugs, crime — that kind of thing — when it's much more than that," said Ramirez, who previously was undocumented.
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They're still voting for her, but they're not feeling great about it
In the homestretch of the campaign, Harris has leaned hard into describing the former president as a threat to democracy, echoing Trump's former chief of staff who described him as fascist.
Progressives also think Trump is dangerous, said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, a group that grew out of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign. But he doesn't think that argument alone is enough to seal the deal. He's worried that some progressives won't vote at all, or are considering third parties, he said.
Geevarghese said he wishes Harris was leaning harder into addressing kitchen table issues to appeal to working class voters as her closing argument.
"The question is — which candidate is going to improve my standard of living? Which candidate is going to give me a better shot of living the American dream?" he said.
"It's important to remember Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 by running as a working class champion. He promised more jobs, better wages."
The Harris campaign has taken issue with some of this criticism, pointing to efforts to reach all kinds of undecided or wavering voters — even as it courts moderate Republicans and independents.
This includes an interview the vice president did with Charlamagne tha God, stops with former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, and events with union workers in Blue Wall states. The campaign has run ads on corporate price gouging and campaigned on the promise to remove college degree requirements for some federal jobs.
The war in Gaza has been a big issue for progressives
In May, NPR met with Brian Ramirez and many of the same group of activists in Atlanta – a group who helped organize and campaign for Democrats in 2020 in Georgia, a state the party won by a very slim margin.
At that time, they were frustrated with President Biden's support for Israel and the large number of civilian deaths in Gaza, and they had broad reservations about Biden's reelection bid.
Adrian Consonery, Jr. didn't feel comfortable voting for Biden. He said he's still upset by the images of suffering in Gaza that he sees on social media, but he feels more optimistic for change with Harris.
"I wanted the Democratic party to earn my vote," he said. "At this current juncture – they're doing a way better job than what they were."
Some of the activists said they feel like Harris might be more willing to listen to different, younger perspectives. But they don't like her continued unconditional support for Israel as it wages war in Gaza and now Lebanon.
"It's not like I'm so gung-ho," Weonhee Shin said. "I don't even have a sign in front of my house, because I'm not super excited. But it's better than Trump."
Shin, who works with the Asian American community, hasn't been able to bring herself to go door-knocking for Harris. "If I'm having a hard time, how can I convince others to do so? It just feels very disingenuous," she said.
Marisa Pyle described her vote for Harris as "harm mitigation."
"The reality is one of these two people is going to be president, and I would like the one who's not going to do fascism," she said.
Harris introduced a new message for young voters into her stump speech
On Saturday, former first lady Michelle Obama used her first appearance at a Harris rally in Kalamazoo, Mich., to express frustration with would-be Democratic voters who are holding back on support.
"I recognize that there are a lot of angry, disillusioned people out there, upset with the slow pace of change," Obama said.
"But to anyone out there thinking about sitting out this election or voting for Donald Trump or a third-party candidate in protest because you're fed up — let me warn you your rage does not exist in a vacuum," she said, specifically warning about the risk of further restrictions to reproductive care if Trump wins.
This week, Harris added a new line to her stump speech at massive rallies she held in Atlanta and Houston, and again in Kalamazoo with Obama — a line aimed directly at young voters who feel strongly about climate change and gun violence prevention, but who are disillusioned with politics.
"I see you. I see you," she said. "I've seen what you do, and I see how you are doing it, because you are rightly impatient for change."
That's a sentiment that Rev. Gerald Durley, 82, shares when he talks to voters across Georgia, as he works to get out the vote for Harris — that change takes time.
"This is what I say to young people," the civil rights leader said, showing off a black t-shirt he had custom made, emblazoned with the words: "If I can, you can."
"If I can vote for 65 years — you can vote for 15 more days. If I can stay in the movement for 65 years — you can," he said.
NPR's Kai McNamee contributed to this story.
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