Even California Hates Kamala Harris

America may not like Kamala Harris, but at least her home state does, right?

Eh, not so much. The Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday that Kamala’s approval ratings in the blue state of California aren’t all that good.

A recent LA Times poll conducted by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies “found just 38% of the state’s voters approved of Harris’ performance as vice president, while 46% disapproved.”

This is a huge drop from last summer, as Harris’s California ratings have apparently followed a similar trajectory as Biden’s poll numbers.

But California is her home state — a deep blue state at that. And Kamala has won four statewide elections there. She ought to be well-regarded in the state despite the dumpster fire the Biden-Harris administration has made of the country.

So why isn’t she doing better?

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According to LATimes columnist Mark Barabak, the biggest problem Kamala faces is that California is nothing like Montana.

No, really, that’s what he said.

“In Montana, they describe the state as one small town with a very long main street,” Barabak wrote. “People know their politicians on a first-name basis, and if they’re not necessarily considered a friend, they at least have the familiarity of a neighbor.”

“California might be described as a collection of various states, with no single thruway,” he mused. “It’s possible to spend a lifetime within its borders and never come remotely close to one of California’s elected statewide leaders, who are most often seen as strangers, or known by whatever image of them shows up on television.”

This is why, Barabak explains, Kamala Harris “faces such dismal approval ratings among her fellow Californians.”

RIght. That’s the reason.

Katie Merrill, a longtime Democratic strategist, argues that despite Kamala having run in four statewide elections, “Voters don’t know her that well.”

Umm, hello … she won four statewide elections in California. I think California voters know her better than the rest of us.

But LATimes columnist Mark Baraba disagrees.

Harris may have run statewide four times in 12 years (twice for attorney general, once for U.S. Senate and in November 2020 as Biden’s running mate). But that doesn’t mean she left a strong imprint; two years into her Senate term and after a splashy entry into the presidential race, nearly a quarter of California voters had no opinion of her job performance, suggesting they knew or cared very little about what she’d done.

That’s not a knock on Harris. Most Californians pay scant attention to politics outside a brief window during election season, or when Donald Trump is setting a torch to our civic norms and institutions.

But it does explain why there’s no deep well of personal support for the Oakland native as she struggles to find her footing in the vice presidency. There’s no sense of attachment, no particular relationship with voters.

At this point, what’s the purpose of making excuses for Kamala’s terrible ratings? Isn’t it just as well to admit that she’s terrible at her job and makes Hillary Clinton appear likable in comparison?