This time last year, Kamala Harris was cruising towards the White House. (“Enthusiasm is off the charts”, as one headline declared.) Except, to anyone with a political antenna, she wasn’t. Her poll lead was modest, considering that polls tend to overstate Democratic support. She was still the shakiest of public performers. Her running mate Tim Walz dealt in a Regular Guy schtick that was going to wear thin in time. And lo, the pair lost a few months later. Their defeat was said to herald a “vibe shift” — a wider change in public sentiment — towards the right.
去年这个时候，卡玛拉•哈里斯(Kamala Harris)正稳步迈向白宫。（“热情爆棚”，某个标题如此宣告）然而，对任何一个政治嗅觉敏锐的人来说，选情并非如此。考虑到民调往往会夸大民主党人的支持率，她的民调领先优势并不大。她依旧是在公众场合表现最不稳的政治人物之一。她的竞选搭档蒂姆•沃尔兹(Tim Walz)靠“正常人”形象来吸引选民，但这种人设逐渐让人感到乏味。就这样，两人在几个月后败选。有人说，他们的败选开启了一场“氛围转变”，即美国公众情绪广泛右转。