When campaign and football season collide: Harris and Trump battle for sports fans: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, deputy politics editor Adam Wollner looks at efforts from the Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns to appeal to male voters, specifically those who are sports fans. Plus, "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker breaks down new polling that shows a growing number of voters saying the upcoming election will matter “a great deal” to their lives.

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Hey sports fans: Harris and Trump want your vote

By Adam Wollner

October is a sports fan's paradise. Football season is in full swing. It’s playoff time for the MLB and WNBA. And NHL and NBA teams play their first regular-season games.

It’s also a month that, of course, happens to coincide with the final stretch of the presidential election — a fact that is not lost on either of the campaigns.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in the midst of a hard-fought battle for male voters, one that’s increasingly focused on those who are spending this time of the year consuming sports content on their TVs and smartphones. 

Rebecca Shabad and Peter Alexander report that Harris’ campaign launched ads Friday that will appear on websites dealing with sports news, sports betting, fantasy sports and video games, including DraftKings, Yahoo Sports and IGN.

In one 30-second spot that will appear on those sites, former NBA star Magic Johnson compares the economic policies of the two candidates as if he were previewing two sports teams clashing. Actor Ben Stiller appears in another ad, referring to his “Academy Award-snubbed movie, ‘Dodgeball.’”

Tim Walz also appeared on Rich Eisen’s sports talk show Friday afternoon to discuss his fandom of the Minnesota Vikings. And the Harris campaign said it’s placing ads on sports talk radio and is taking advantage of major NFL, MLB and college football games. 

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has been heavily advertising during NFL and college football games (and elsewhere) with a message taking issue with Harris’ past support for taxpayer-funded gender-affirming treatments, as Jonathan Allen, Allan Smith, Olympia Sonnier and Ben Kamisar reported. 

The ads end with the tag line: “Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you.”

These efforts come amid the backdrop of a massive gender gap between the two candidates. The latest national NBC News poll shows Harris leading among women by a 14-point margin (55%-41%), while Trump is ahead with men by 16 points (56%-40%). Trump lost women to Joe Biden by a similar 15-point margin (57%-42%) in 2020, according to exit polls, but he won men by just 8 points (53%-45%).

That helps explain the focus on male voters in the closing weeks of the race. Given Trump has struggled to move his numbers with women, he needs to expand his edge with men as much as possible, while Harris sees an opportunity to cut off a potential path to victory for the former president. 

A presidential election that matters more than ever

By Kristen Welker

A common refrain you hear from the candidates, strategists and pundits is how this presidential election matters more than ever.

Voters believe it, too, according to our latest national NBC News poll.

In the survey, 62% of registered voters said the upcoming election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will make “a great deal of difference” in their lives and family’s lives. 

That’s the highest share on this NBC News poll question that dates to the 1990s. Note how the percentage keeps increasing each decade:

In our latest poll, conducted earlier this month, slightly more Democrats (65%) than Republicans (59%) said that this election will make a great deal of difference in their lives.

That’s one way to measure enthusiasm about the election. Another way our poll has historically gauged enthusiasm is asking voters what their interest is on a 1-to-10-point scale, with “9” and “10” responses representing high interest.

Our new poll found that 74% of voters expressed high interest in the November election, which is down from past cycles. And by party, 79% of Republicans had high interest, compared to 77% of Democrats.

A couple of other nuggets I wanted to pass along:

The first: On the topic of Harris trying to separate herself from Joe Biden, NBC News has reported that the Harris campaign has been in close touch with the White House about how she’ll distance herself from the president.  

Harris sources indicate that there are no clear plans to shift strategy beyond telling Fox News that her presidency won’t be a “continuation” of Biden’s presidency. One source familiar with the matter tells NBC News: “She takes the relationship between the president and vice president seriously, and you don’t see vice presidents reviewing the decisions of a president. If that happens, she feels she would destroy the confidentiality of a president and vice president’s relationship for everyone going forward. You didn’t see Mike Pence do it until Jan. 6.”

Harris herself said as much in response to a question from my colleague Peter Alexander after a rally in Michigan on Friday. 

“To be very candid with you, even including Mike Pence, vice presidents are not critical of their presidents. I think that really, actually, in terms of the tradition of it, and also just going forward, it does not make for a productive and important relationship,” Harris said.

The second: We have a jam-packed “Meet the Press” this Sunday, which will feature interviews with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. Be sure to tune in!

That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at [email protected]

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