Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event at Northwestern High School in Detroit, on Sept. 2.Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press
Everyone loves an underdog. That’s why Kamala Harris insists she’s America’s underdog.
In her election campaign against former president Donald Trump, Ms. Harris is calculating that the way to win in November is to be seen as overtaking him from behind.
Even if she is ahead.
And so, just as public-opinion surveys show the Vice-President with a lead in the race – albeit a teeny one, well within the Wall Street Journal poll’s margin of error – her campaign distributed a memo this week portraying her as the underdog.
“Make no mistake: we head into the final stretch of this race as the clear underdogs,” said Jen O’Malley Dillon, chair of the Harris campaign, in the “State of the Race” memo.
“Donald Trump has a motivated base of support, with more support and higher favorability than he has had at any point since 2020.”
That statement raised eyebrows. But in truth, it also may raise campaign funds. If Ms. Harris is running ahead, it may be in part because she has continually embraced the notion of running behind.
It’s not a complaint. It’s a rallying cry – and a warning not to become complacent.
“Being seen as an underdog is an advantage,” said Sian Leah Beilock, the president of Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., and an expert in the brain science behind “choking under pressure” in business, education and sports.
“That’s because it can help lower expectations for how you should perform – expectations of success you hold for yourself and those others hold for us.”
She added: “In short, it takes some of the pressure off to perform at the highest levels. Even an okay performance as an underdog can be taken as a sign of success.”
This theme emerged swiftly after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed Ms. Harris. Less than a week into her campaign, she began her effort to be regarded as the underdog.
“We are the underdogs in this race, okay?” she said at a fundraiser in Pittsfield, Mass. “Level set. We’re the underdogs in this race.”
Three weeks later, she returned to the theme: “I very much consider us the underdog,” she said in Pittsburgh. “We have a lot of work to do to earn the vote of the American people.”
There’s a reason Ms. Harris has embraced a profile that suggests weakness: People identify with underdogs and root for their success. And this sometimes helps transform underdogs into winners.
Ms. Harris’s opponent once was one of the biggest underdogs in American presidential history. Up until election day in 2016, almost every prognosticator and pollster gave the advantage – a large one – to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Mr. Trump prevailed in the electoral college, though he lost the popular vote.
Vice-president George H.W. Bush also once was the underdog – actually, he was so twice in one campaign. He lost the Iowa caucuses in early 1988, and many commentators believed that senator Bob Dole of Kansas, who had prevailed in the caucuses, was primed to sweep through the Republican nomination fight.
But Mr. Bush roared back and eventually won the nomination, only to find himself 17 percentage points behind governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts in the general election. Mr. Bush ultimately carried 40 states and won.
“The underdog gets to do better than expected, gets to keep growing and avoid complacency,” said Susan Estrich, who was the campaign manager for Mr. Dukakis. “The last thing the Harris campaign wants is for people to feel she has this thing won. She doesn’t.”
Ms. Estrich said that, when Mr. Trump seemed to be coasting to victory only weeks ago, he selected J.D. Vance as his running mate, “and it hasn’t worked out well.”
She added: “Better to be the one trying harder, and getting your army to do the same.”
A team of neuroscience researchers at the University of Lyon found that people have positive feelings toward disadvantaged people, especially those who overcome their barriers. They cited Cinderella, Rocky Balboa, David (versus Goliath) and Mahatma Gandhi, and spoke of “the underdog effect.”
Clearly, the Harris team is hoping the underdog effect works in politics the way it does in sports.
“It allows you to play with the proverbial chip on your shoulder that might give you a bit more determination,” said Peter Roby, the former men’s basketball coach at Harvard.
“Underdogs very often can get the fans on their side, which energizes them.”