Democrats warned to keep euphoria in check as election remains on knife-edge

As the vice-president basks in adulation and optimism at the Democratic national convention in Chicago, key supporters are cautioning that more trying times lie ahead after an extended honeymoon period following her ascent to the top of the ticket in place of Joe Biden.

A recent compilation of national polls by 538, a polling website, showed Harris leading Trump by 46.6% to 43.8%.

The cautionary theme was amplified by David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama, who told the Guardian this week that the Harris campaign must guard against complacency.

The vice-president has already faced scrutiny over her recent disavowal of liberal policy positions she assumed during her ill-fated campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2020, when she publicly opposed fracking and advocated a single-payer health insurance system that would ultimately have ended private health insurance.

But in comments to the New York Times, Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut, said embracing ideas of economic populism that are controversial because they run counter to the prevailing free-market neoliberal orthodoxy might be necessary to win precisely because they are attractive to Trump supporters.