Democrats' 'weird' attack line on JD Vance may be working, polling guru argues

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Is the Democrats' 'weird' talking point against Vance sticking? Report suggests it is

CNN data analyst Harry Enten connected data showing an increase in Google searches for "weird"and JD Vance, with polls showing Vance's favorability is down, to suggest Democrats' attack line is working.

The Harris campaign's new favorite attack line against Ohio Sen. JD Vance may be sticking, a new report suggests.

Since former President Trump picked Vance as his running mate last month, many Democrats have repeatedly attacked the Republican candidates as "weird" and "creepy." The "weird" buzzword has particularly been used to attack Vance's views on abortion and other controversial issues.

The talking point, which has been repeated ad nauseam by Harris surrogates and media allies, may be proving effective for Democrats, according to an analysis of Google searches and polling data by CNN analyst Harry Enten on Friday. 

Google searches for "weird" are up 32% in the past three days from three months ago, he said, and increasingly linked to searches for "MAGA," "JD Vance" and the "GOP."

Senator JD Vance, a Republican from Ohio and Republican vice-presidential nominee, at a walkthrough during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.   (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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"It shows that it is penetrating the zeitgeist, and it actually shows that it‘s a rare political attack that people are looking up online," Enten said.

He connected this spike in online searches to a drop in Vance's net favorability ratings this week.

While Vance already "made history" by being the first vice presidential nominee to have a net negative favorability rating following his party's convention, his ratings have dropped even further this week.

According to Enten's analysis of polling from AP-NORC and ABC/Ipsos, his ratings have dropped eight to nine points since their mid-July polling.

"So it seems that the attack lines against JD Vance are working," he said. "And one of those big attack lines, of course, is the idea that he is weird, and it’s definitely being increasingly searched with his name and obviously other things associated with Republicans."

Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 10 days without holding a press conference since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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While Enten said his drop in favorability likely went beyond the "weird" attack line, it still was "absolutely having an impact."

"Folks just have a visceral dislike for him, as we see in these numbers, right here," he said.

Trump has fired back against the attack line in recent media interviews.

"They're the weird ones," Trump told "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show."

"It’s all a sound bite. And the press picks it up. You notice … the evening news, every one of ‘em’s talking, they introduce the word ‘weird,’ and all of a sudden they’re talking about ‘weird.’"

Vance has faced media scrutiny after comments he made about "childless cat ladies" in the Democratic Party in 2021 resurfaced in the past week.

The vice-presidential candidate defended his comments in a recent interview with Fox News' Trey Gowdy.

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"If you look at what the left has done, they have radically taken this out of context and, in fact, aggressively lied about what I’ve said," he said. "What I do think is true, Trey, and this goes to the heart of what I was talking about three years ago in those comments, but it’s going to be something I continue to talk about, is that the left has increasingly become explicitly anti-child and anti-family."