"I am a McDonald's Part-timer" Harris Emphasizes 'Middle-Class Fighter' in Advertisement

Six Ads Released in the Past Week
Former McDonald's Employee Also Emphasized
Mostly Highlighting the President as a Man of the People
"Different from Trump Who Represents Big Corporations"

Last week, at the Democratic Party convention, Vice President Kamala Harris, who was confirmed as the U.S. presidential candidate, has been intensifying efforts on election advertisements. By the 27th (local time), the Harris campaign released six new ads over the past week. The overall message of the ads is “Vice President Harris will be a president for the middle and working classes,” highlighting the differences from the Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump.

Six Recent Ads... What Messages Did They Emphasize?

The election ad released on the 23rd targeted Americans struggling with high inflation. While the video highlights family photos of Vice President Harris, a narration states, “Vice President Harris grew up in a middle-class family, was the daughter of a working mom, and worked at McDonald’s while earning her degree.” The Washington Post (WP) noted, “The fact that Vice President Harris worked at McDonald’s is a relatively lesser-known fact,” and analyzed that “since one in eight Americans has worked at McDonald’s at least once in their lifetime, this creates empathy and emphasizes her middle-class image.”

In another ad, Vice President Harris shares a story about her mother saving for over ten years to buy a house, then begins, “I know well what it means to own a home.” She continues, “Sadly, too many American families today cannot achieve the dream of homeownership.” The June CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which aggregates housing prices in 20 U.S. cities, rose 6.5% year-over-year to reach an all-time high. Vice President Harris promises, “If I become president, I will crack down on corporate landlords and build 3 million new homes.”

In an election ad themed “Opportunity,” Vice President Harris emphasizes, “Middle-class families like the one I grew up in want lower prices and taxes.” She concludes, “We will focus on the future, not past politics.” This aligns with her recent pledges targeting working-class voters, such as banning grocery price hikes and expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC). In another ad, Harris contrasts herself with former President Trump, saying he fights for billionaires and big corporations, while “I will fight to return money to working-class and middle-class Americans.”

In the fifth ad, Vice President Harris highlights the Biden administration’s policies to lower health insurance and drug costs, stating, “Insulin prescriptions are now capped at $35 for seniors.” However, she stresses, “There is still much to do because mortgage rates, rents, grocery prices, and various utility bills remain high.”

In the final election ad, Vice President Harris takes a direct approach to the Democratic Party’s political weakness on immigration. She emphasizes that during her tenure as California’s attorney general, she was a tough prosecutor focused on border security. She also explains that former President Trump, while in office, blocked bipartisan congressional efforts to strengthen border security.

NYT: “Harris Emphasizes Herself as a Middle-Class Champion”

The New York Times (NYT) described these ads from the Harris campaign as appearing to want to portray Vice President Harris as a champion of the middle class against big corporations and billionaires, contrasting her with former President Trump. Joseph McCartin, a history professor at Georgetown University, told WP, “Given the surge in dissatisfaction among workers who feel they have not been treated fairly in American society, class issues are quite important in this election.” According to a poll released on the 27th by More Perfect Union, 80% of voters in key U.S. states believe “big corporations have become too powerful,” and the majority of respondents attribute rising prices to “corporate greed.”

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign reportedly spent $150 million on election ads this month. The campaign announced plans to spend approximately $370 million on advertisements between Labor Day, the first Monday of September, and the November presidential election.