Karl Rove cautions Democrats about Harris' slim polling lead: 'Nowhere near ahead'

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Kamala Harris needs to get specific on her policies: Karl Rove

Fox News contributor Karl Rove weighs in as questions continue to mount regarding VP Kamala Harris' policy positions.

Political commentator Karl Rove warned Democrats on Tuesday that the narrow lead Vice President Kamala Harris has seen in recent polls may not be enough for her to defeat former President Trump in November.

"On this day in 2020, Joe Biden was up 7.1% above Donald Trump in the Real Clear Politics average. And at this point in 2016, Hillary Clinton was up 6.3%. As you remember, the election came down to a handful of votes in a handful of states," Rove said in an interview on Fox News' "America's Newsroom."

He noted that Harris is ahead of Trump according to some national polling aggregators, but she is "nowhere near ahead by the numbers that both Biden and Clinton were in" during their respective campaigns against Trump in 2016 and 2020. 

The comments come as the Real Clear Politics polling average shows Harris with a slim 1.5-point lead over Trump nationally, a significant shift from the three-point lead Trump held over President Biden the day before he dropped out of the race.

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Political commentator Karl Rove warned Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday that avoiding media interviews does not help her in what is likely to be a tight race against former President Trump. (Fox News)

Rove responded to comments from Democratic strategist Julian Epstein as to Harris' campaign. 

"If the polling errors are anywhere close to what they were in 2016 and 2020, then Trump is in the lead right now," Epstein previously told Fox News Digital.

"People want to know where you're coming from and they want to know enough about the specifics to get their hands around it," he said. 

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"[Harris] needs to be more specific," he added. 

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The comments come as the Real Clear Politics polling average shows Vice President Kamala Harris with a slim 1.5-point lead over former President Trump nationally, a significant shift from the three-point lead Trump held over President Biden the day before he dropped out of the race. (AP Photos)

According to a report from Politico last week, recent polls conducted by Democratic firms that show Harris in the lead contain warning signs, including that Trump leads in some characteristics that are more likely to sway voters. Harris is also essentially tied with Trump across the battleground states, the polls show, meaning the vice president is underperforming her national numbers in states set to decide the election.

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Fox News' Michael Lee contributed to this report.