But one election expert says all they have to pay attention to are two things.
James Carville famously said "it's the economy, stupid" in 1992 when Bill Clinton was running for the first time. According to Louis Perron, author of 'Beat the Incumbent: Proven Strategies and Tactics to Win Elections,' Carville was right.
“There are two key measures here that I look at: right direction, wrong track, and the job approval of the incumbent,” Perron said.
He says both those measures are driven by the economy, and for Kamala Harris, they could not have been worse.
“These two indicators and measurements are just devastating. I mean, according to the exit poll, there's a clear majority that disapproves of the job Joe Biden is doing, and the even bigger majority that thinks the country is on the wrong track.”
Perron says a candidate's track record is also important.
“An election with an incumbent is foremost a referendum on the incumbent. And in this case, let's remember that the incumbent dropped out of the race because he and his party were almost certain he would lose.”
And that was something Harris just couldn't run away from. The result was more than $1 billion spent on her campaign which is now $20 million in debt.
Her spending and other campaign decisions are being questioned.
“She still is, or was, the incumbent party candidate and I think that's what tanked her,” Perron said.
