Should Harris Talk Much About Her Racial Identity? Many Voters Say No.

This week, after former President Donald J. Trump claimed falsely that Ms.

Harris “happened to turn Black” only recently, the vice president did not attempt to clarify the obvious: that she has, in fact, been Black all her life.

She did not mention race at all. Rather, she denounced Mr. Trump’s “divisiveness and disrespect” in a previously planned speech to a historically Black sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho.

Ms. Harris, whose father was from Jamaica and whose mother was from India, has long resisted attempts by others to categorize her identity. “I am who I am,” she once said. “I’m good with it. You might need to figure it out, but I’m fine with it.”

In interviews, dozens of voters across the country — Black, white, Hispanic, Asian — echoed her unburdened attitude toward discussing her race, even as she sits on the cusp of making history as the first woman of color to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. When describing the barriers a possible Harris presidency could break, people called that a “cherry on top” and “a bonus” compared with their most pressing concerns.

Likely voters said — and recent polling appears to confirm — that their first priority is not to make history with their ballots. Instead, they want to hear more about what kind of person Ms.

Harris is and what kind of president she would be.