Former President Barack Obama is still the guy for Democrats — despite questions about his reach with the voters the party is losing.
They’re deploying Obama across swing states to turn out some of the most important voters in their base, and he’s spent October appearing at rallies on behalf of Kamala Harris’ campaign. On Thursday, he’ll appear on the campaign trail with the vice president for the first time since he endorsed her.
Obama has maintained a relatively high approval rating since leaving office, only rarely weighing in on the day-to-day minutiae of politics. Still, even he managed to get some blowback earlier this month, including from prominent sports broadcaster Stephen A. Smith, after he suggested that sexism is part of why Harris hasn’t done well with Black men at a rally in Pittsburgh.
“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” Obama said of the lack of support. “Because part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
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But Democrats say that the political environment has not changed so much that Obama’s out of touch with the broader public.
“He has shown time and time again his ability to galvanize people and his ability to motivate and inspire people,” said Shomari Figures, a former Obama administration official who is now a Democratic candidate for an Alabama House seat. “I think not just his personal story, but his record of accomplishment speaks volumes.”
With the election only two weeks away, polls show Harris is still lagging in support with some key voters, including Black and Latino men. One poll showed that while Harris has strong support from young people, there’s an enthusiasm gap in gender and race. The Harris campaign has put a lot of effort into courting the youth vote, organizing events on college campuses and utilizing other surrogates who have credibility with young voters, like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a millennial, and Maxwell Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress.
“Obviously, [Obama] isn’t someone who I’ve kept up with very heavily up till now,” said Sunjay Muralitharan, a student in California and the vice president of the College Democrats of America. “But I still do respect him as kind of a founding father, in a way, of a newer generation of politics.”
Muralitharan acknowledged that Obama’s Pittsburgh rally comments were a misstep but said Obama still got at the important conversation Democrats need to be having.
“What matters is that he was just trying to highlight that as men, we should be looking out for the women in politics,” he said. “Black men are allowed to have their grievances with Kamala Harris. I think that’s why we’re trying to open up dialogues like this, trying to sort that out and figure out what is the best way forward to kind of turn out this key demographic for Democrats.”
Ray Reed, a Gen Z Democrat running for the Missouri House of Representatives, said Obama is why he got involved in politics, adding there’s “absolutely no doubt” Obama is still effective in reaching young people and that his presidency meant a lot to Black men.
“Watching him get elected and following that election in sixth grade completely swooped me in. I fell in love with the good fight,” Reed, a Black man, said. “Tons of young Black men across this country see that there’s no real limit to what we can do, and a lot of that is because of him.”
In recent days, Obama has made the case that Donald Trump’s age and mental acuity disqualify him from the job. Obama has lauded the characters of Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, while taking credit for setting up the pre-COVID-19 Trump economy he thinks some Americans are nostalgic for.
The Harris campaign did not return a request for comment. But Obama’s work on the party’s behalf began before this month — his team said he raised $84 million for the Democratic presidential ticket in the last year.
“His strategy this fall will be driven by where he can move the needle with Democrats and persuadable voters, especially in states with key races,” Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to Obama, said in a statement. “President Obama believes this is an all-hands-on-deck moment.”
Obama and Harris’ relationship dates back to when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, and she went on to help his GOTV efforts before the Iowa caucuses in the 2008 presidential race. The two have been in touch since Harris was elected vice president, and Obama has served as a “sounding board” when needed, according to his team. They have been in close contact in the last several months before Election Day.
Harris supported his campaign, and now he is repaying the favor.
Mark Mellman, a pollster who’s done extensive work in swing states like Nevada, said Obama doesn’t need to reach every man or young voter who isn’t supporting Harris. He just needs to reach the few who could be persuaded — or who might otherwise not vote at all.
“We’re down to a very small number of people who are influenceable, but they’re very important because they’re going to decide the race,” Mellman said. “He’s someone who gets their attention and is also well-liked by most of those folks.”
If they wish he did more between election cycles to energize voters for the Democratic ticket, they aren’t saying so.
“When we need President Obama, he’s there,” Figures said. “President Obama is doing what we need him to do.”
Multiple people said that his relative quietness is helpful because people are more likely to notice when he does step in.
Joel Benenson, a former pollster for both presidential Obama campaigns, said, “Former presidents have to be very mindful about not being intrusive” and that Obama is careful not to “dilute” the potency of his political involvement.
Republicans did have some critiques of the former president. One Arizona GOP chair pointed out that he may not sway young voters the way he used to, now that he’s older and his presidency was years ago. A consultant said he’d be better utilized in bluer states like Michigan than in redder states like Arizona.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t acknowledge his power with voters.
“They’re getting their star quarterback, which is Obama. They’re putting him in the game,” Dave Smith, who chairs the Pima County GOP in Arizona, said. “It’s important for them to play their best card now with two weeks to go.”
David Cohen, a political strategist and Obama campaign alum, said that campaigns need the kind of local coverage and fanfare only certain kinds of celebrities bring.
“In this fractured media environment where partisanship so often determines what people watch or don’t watch, and without a second presidential debate, it’s really hard to find a single galvanizing moment at this point in the race where the whole country is really paying attention to one thing,” Cohen said. “I think Barack Obama is probably as good as it gets.”
“The only thing better would be Michelle, truly,” he added.
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Casey Murray, Emily Kennard, and Torrence Banks are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.
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