Kamala Harris is becoming an increasingly popular figure to challenge Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris has been a relatively unpopular political personality ever since she made her first run at the presidency, and her time as Joe Biden’s number two has not helped her win over the American people. 

“Her 3-1/2 year White House tenure has been characterized by a lackluster start, staff turnover, and early policy portfolios including migration from Central America that did not produce major successes,” Reuters wrote of the Vice President’s time in office. 

“As recently as last year, many inside the White House and the Biden campaign team privately worried Harris was a liability for the campaign,” Reuters continued, and recent polling revealed some of the issues with Harris as a possible presidential candidate.

Polling conducted by Politico and Morning Consult from as recently as the end of May 2024 found that registered voters don’t see Harris as a strong leader. Only 48% of the nearly 4,000 individuals surveyed indicated as much. 

Americans also don’t see Harris as trustworthy either since 46% of people reported that when asked according to the findings by Politico and Morning Consult. Most voters also did not think of the Vice President as someone who could win a presidential election. 

An overwhelming majority of 57% of those surveyed indicated that Harris couldn’t win an election compared to 34% who thought she could, a result that varied depending on the political affiliation of the person being asked. 

Most Democrats believed Harris could win an election with 59% saying so, but when it came to Republicans, an overwhelming majority (81%) noted that the Vice President would not be able to win a presidential election. 

The most important group of voters—independents— sided with Republicans and 62% agreed that Harris likely wouldn’t win a prescient election if she were a contender, which was a very worrying discovery at the time. 

“She’s done an admirable job on reproductive health and issues important to the Black community and related to youth,” explained the climate activist and Democratic National Committee member R.L. Miller to Politico. 

Miller went on to add that at the same time, the Vice President was “falling into the same spot that many vice presidents fall into, which is that she doesn’t have a very public role outside of her lane.”

“People don’t associate her with issues like foreign policy, which is so important these days. She isn’t being credited with the larger international and domestic work.” Miller continued. But things have shifted, and they shifted quickly. 

Biden’s terrible performance during his first of two presidential debates with Trump reinvigorated support for Harris as calls for Biden to step down from the reins of power have grown stronger from both inside and outside of the Democratic Party. 

On July 2nd, betting odds on Harris winning the 2024 presidential election surged with some major institutions while Biden’s odds slumped according to Newsweek. Polling also began to reveal that the Vice President would perform better than Biden against Trump. 

Trump would still likely beat Harris, he took 47% of the vote share to Harris’ 45% in the CNN poll released July 3rd whereas Biden would lose to Trump by 6 points with the former president capturing 49% of the vote while Biden would only net 43%. 

Harris saw more support from female voters and Black votes than Biden did when she was paired against Trump, and the Vice President performed better with independents. Harris captured 43% of independents while Biden only had support from 34%. 

Unfortunately, whether or not Harris could beat Trump is likely moot since Biden has said several times since his debate with Trump that he intends to continue his run for president, though seeing the Vice President take over would be interesting. 

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