Kamala Harris has admitted her biggest weakness – and sums up why voters are turning away

At a town hall event this week, Kamala Harris was asked a simple question that revealed why she is struggling to win over undecided voters: “What weaknesses do you bring to the table?”

Joe Donahue, who works in retail, asked the presidential candidate a nasty question at a CNN event on Wednesday, following it up with: “And how do you plan to win them?”

Ms Harris, who will become the most powerful person in the world if she wins the presidential election in a week's time, made a mistake before admitting she struggled to answer questions or think on her feet.

“Some would call that a weakness, especially when you're in an interview or you're being asked a question, and you're expected to get the right answer right away,” he said, bouncing back and forth between his question and CNN host Anderson Cooper. . “But that's how I work.”

Critics say Ms Harris's failure to come up with “the right answer right away” sums up why the vice presidential campaign seems to have gone awry this week.

As polls tighten ahead of election day, Ms Harris, who has long been criticized for her “word salad” responses, is struggling to find an answer to win back voters to Donald Trump.

Analysts say his campaign has become desperate in the past week, seeking 11th-hour gifts while lobbing at his Republican rivals in hopes of moving the needle.

The latest polls show the race is still close, but the Democrats are lagging behind in swing states.

A recent policy announcement about doubling the federal minimum wage was misfired and went under the radar, while campaign officials broke cover to warn that key states are slipping away.

At the same time, Ms. Harris has begun to distance herself from Joe Biden, has mimicked his policy positions and stuck with the man who dropped out of the presidential race to endorse her.

Since becoming the Democratic nominee this summer, Ms. Harris has spent much of her time treating Trump as a sidekick and rising above controversy.

This week, he called his opponent a “fascist” and noted that he had been compared to Hitler.

“The campaign is in free time and desperate, grasping at any straw,” said Charlie Gerow, a Republican strategist based in the state of Pennsylvania, told The Telegraph.

“Somehow believing that accusing Donald Trump of being a fascist is an effective cover-up argument – there's no way it could be true. They're in real trouble and they know it.”

An anonymous Harris campaign official admitted to NBC News this week that the vice president could lose Michigan or Wisconsin, two battleground states that were key to Joe Biden's and Barack Obama's electoral victories.

They also suggested that North Carolina, top of Ms Harris' list of targets, was “sliding away” as the race entered the final stretch.

This week, a Telegraph poll found Trump ahead in four of seven states, and tied in two others. Ms. Harris led in one state and by one point: Wisconsin.

With the White House seemingly slipping out of his hands, the vice president decided on a change in tactics.

Earlier this month, he told ABC's The View that “nothing comes to mind” when asked what he would have done differently from Mr Biden.

Seemingly alarmed by Trump's attack ads repeating the message and tying him to the unpopular president, he has taken another tack.

Ways to break up with Biden

“Mine is not going to be a continuation of the Biden administration,” he told NBC News on Tuesday, saying he would break with his former ally's economic policy to lower grocery and housing prices.

That same night, he supported plans to double the minimum wage to $15 an hour — not in his widely followed NBC News interview, but in a segment that aired later.

As a result, it went under the radar of most news outlets except the Telegraph and Bloomberg. NBC has yet to publish an article on its opinion.

Mr Gerow was furious at the way the campaign had failed to cover the announcement in the media.

“The message must be clear – you can't just hit it once and run,” he said. “It should be driven home for the work ahead, and it should be repeated.”

Ms Harris was apparently trying to draw comparisons with Trump, who dodged a question about the minimum wage at a campaign stop at McDonald's on Sunday.

Standing at a window in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, the Republican – who had stripped off his suit jacket and donned a McDonald's apron – instead praised the “great staff” for their work.

Ms. Harris and her supporters have long used her claim to have worked at a fast-food restaurant to burn employees' credentials, while Trump has accused her of lying.

No one was able to provide evidence, but the Republic won the title battle as it worked for deep oil and fed customers.

After entering the polls for most of the race, the pressures of campaigning and months of political attacks appear to be catching up with Ms Harris.

So much so that he cannot even share his greatest weakness, without being their victim.

Both Democrats and Republicans have struggled to find a strategy that works against Trump, a political landscape for nearly a decade. If she wants to walk through the doors of the Oval Office in January, Ms. Harris will have to get an answer soon.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try the Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.