You might have thought that Nevada and South Carolina would be two of Kamala Harris’ strongest states. Nevada is right next door to California, her home state. South Carolina has a large black population.

Instead, she’s at 5% in Nevada and 3% in South Carolina.

When you dig a little deeper, there doesn’t seem to be any untapped well of support. Just 22% of likely caucus-goers in Nevada and 23% of likely primary voters in South Carolina say they would be enthusiastic about her winning the nomination. That’s more than 20 points behind the leader in each contest.

Harris tied with Pete Buttigieg in Nevada and only statistically insignificantly ahead of him in South Carolina when it comes to enthusiasm. Both states have been among the South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s weakest.

These numbers suggest that Harris is making the right call by planting herself in Iowa. Even if these states should be stronger for her in theory, she polls about as well in Iowa. These states are not anywhere close to a backstop for Harris. What she needs is to somehow use Iowa as a catapult to improve her standing in these later contests.

Perhaps the only encouraging sign for Harris is she’s at 6% among black voters in South Carolina compared to Elizabeth Warren’s 4%. That is, she is in no worse position than Warren among a pivotal bloc of voters, even as she struggles overall. It suggests Harris has more room to grow with black voters -- if her campaign can ever get going.