On Sunday the Democratic Party flew a banner over the Philadelphia Eagles football game reading: Go Birds! Sack Project 2025! Vote Kamala.
Donald Trump may have tried to distance himself from Project 2025, a hardline conservative manifesto setting out a program for government written by his allies, but our new poll reveals just how damaging it could be for him in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania.
When independent voters were asked to describe in a word their main hesitation in voting for the former president, their number-one answer was: 2025.
The results are particularly striking when they are set out in a word cloud.
The terms 2025, plan, and people, dominate the graphic.
J.L. Partners asked 500 likely voters in Pennsylvania for their main hesitation in voting for Vice President Kamala Harris. Their one-word answers are shown in a word cloud
It suggests that Trumps efforts to shrug off Project 2025 are not working and that Kamala Harris attacks could work to win over some of the voters that will decide who will win Novembers election.
Project 2025 was overseen by the conservative Heritage Foundation, a thinktank stuff with alumni from the Trump administration and allied groups.
It sets out a blueprint for Trump in office, including proposals that he has already adopted, such as strengthening the southern border and decreasing federal involvement in education.
But it also calls for a ban on a widely used abortion pill, the abolition of the Department of Homeland Security, and scrap dietary guidelines.
As a result, it provides a detailed plan for Democrats to attack Trump and his allies as extremists intent on upending American life.
One respondent to our poll with J.L. Partners summed up their hesitation as: Abortion and tax cuts for the wealthy.
Nowhere are these issues more important than Pennsylvania. A DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners poll last week found that that the two candidates are locked in a dead heat, on 47 percent each with likely votes.
With Trump opening up leads in the sunbelt states of Georgia and Nevada, Pennsylvania is crucial to Harris chances of winning the White house.
Former President Donald Trump is locked in a dead heat with Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania
Trumps legal woes have often solidified support among his base but our survey found that undecided voters in Pennsylvania were concerned about voting for a felon
The 900 page document sets out a raft of conservative policy proposals
As well as the banner over the Eagles game (repeated at NFL games in other key battleground states) the Harris campaign launched a digital ad this week entitled The Enemy Within.
Donald Trumps Project 2025 agenda would give him unchecked power to act on his worst instincts—and there will be no one to stop him, said the campaign.
Trump has repeatedly rubbished any suggestion it will provide a blueprint for his administration, saying he had nothing to do with it during last months presidential debate.
But the Harris attacks are landing, according to James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners.
The Harris ads are working: The biggest hesitation amongst independents about voting for Trump is his "2025 plan, he said.
Never mind that Trump has distanced himself from the so-called Project 2025, Democrats’ use of it has bedded in as a core hesitation among voters—and it comes up in our wider interviews and focus groups too.
Harris needs to win Pennsylvania if she is to have any path to winning the White House
But the survey also has pointers for the Trump campaign in finding attacks that land
The results suggest that voters are not convinced that Harris answers questions properly, and they wonder what she got done as vice president, according to our pollster
Authors of the manifesto include Russ Vought, who was budget director in the Trump White House, and J.D. Vance, Trumps running mate, has ties to Kevin Roberts who oversaw the whole project.
While Project 2025 has provided plenty of ammunition for the Harris campaign, the new survey offers pointers for the Trump campaign too. When independent voters were asked the same question about hesitations over Harris, their one-word answers featured: Liar, president, and liberal.
For undecided voters, the answers were: Hear, answer, policies.
If the opening for Harris is Project 2025, then Trump should focus his guns on the idea his opponent holds no particular position, is a liar, and has had a poor record as vice president, said Johnson.
How liberal she is, and whether she answers the questions directly, are also ripe areas for attack.