**Kamala Harris Faces Increased Public Scrutiny Amid Declining Attention**

Kamala Harris' recent trip to the border and her economic policy address have notably captured the attention of many Americans as September drew to a close. However, evolving trends in public sentiment could be troubling for the Vice President's campaign, as per new findings from The Breakthrough, a polling project monitoring election news.

The data shows a steady decline in the portion of Americans who are hearing about Harris each week since her presidential debate with former President Donald Trump in early September. Concurrently, the tone of the discourse surrounding Harris has taken a sharp negative turn, hitting its lowest point thus far in the campaign.

One significant trend is the prevalence of the word "lie" when people describe what they have heard about Harris. In the most recent data, "lie" came in as the fourth-most mentioned term following "border," "polls," and "campaign." This is a notable shift compared to previous weeks, where "lie" had not ranked as prominently.

Surveys conducted from September 27-30 by SSRS and Verasight for CNN, Georgetown University, and the University of Michigan reveal these insights. Approximately 6% of respondents mentioned "lie" or "liar" when discussing Harris, a figure that has grown from 3% or less before the Democratic convention to a peak of 9% post-debate.

Harris' recent emphasis on immigration and the economy appears to be reflected in the latest data, with 15% mentioning immigration and 13% mentioning economic issues in relation to her. This is the first time multiple policy areas have dominated the top five topics concerning Harris.

In contrast, public attention toward Trump continues to focus on assassination attempts against him and his recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Although immigration issues have slightly faded from Trump's spotlight, the word "lie" or "liar" consistently appears, cited by about 8% in the latest poll.

Despite generally less negative commentary on Harris compared to Trump, there has been a notable decline in positive sentiment towards her across political affiliations. Democrats, Republicans, and independents have all shown a slight increase in negative perceptions of Harris, while sentiments towards Trump have improved slightly among independents and Democrats.

The survey also highlighted a decline in overall attention to both candidates, with 64% of Americans reporting hearing about Harris compared to 68% for Trump. This marks the fourth consecutive week that Trump has garnered more attention than Harris, with both candidates experiencing a drop from the previous week.

Overall, the public's attention to the presidential candidates remains lower than in past election cycles, possibly due to the timing of the debates. In 2020, more than 80% of Americans reported following news about Trump and Joe Biden in the same timeframe, coinciding with a late September debate, whereas a similar dip occurred in mid-September 2016 before the Trump-Clinton debate.

As one respondent succinctly put it, "It has been relatively quiet this week. I haven't heard of anything," reflecting the general lull in campaign activity as of late.