My PJ Media colleague Lincoln Brown recently touched on Kamala Harris’s poor poll ratings and their potential impact on the 2022 midterm elections. Unfortunately for Harris, it’s not just one poll but multiple surveys that have her underwater.
Currently, Harris’s RealClearPolitics average favorable rating is 45 percent and her unfavorable is 46 percent, which is hardly a huge hurdle for her. Still, given that she’s only been on the job for six months, this should be the honeymoon period. Yet America is already ready for a divorce.
But Harris’s numbers deserve more context to understand just how bad she is. She’s not only unpopular, she’s quite literally the least popular vice president in decades.
According to the Telegraph, Harris is the only vice president who polled underwater at this stage. Mike Pence, Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore, Dan Quayle, George H.W. Bush, and even Walter Mondale had higher ratings.
What makes this significant is that Kamala Harris’s approval ratings matter a great deal. From the very beginning, there’s been a sort of co-presidency vibe from this administration. Signage at the Biden inauguration read “Biden-Harris Inauguration.” Even the official White House Twitter account’s bio reads, “Welcome to the Biden-Harris White House!” And, back in March, it was revealed that federal agencies had been instructed by the White House “to reference the current administration as the ‘Biden-Harris Administration’ in official public communications.” So the White House clearly sees Kamala Harris as the heir apparent to Joe Biden. And Americans aren’t convinced he’ll even finish one term, let alone run for a second.
The Biden team—sorry, the Biden-Harris team—has been grooming the country for Kamala’s inevitable ascension to the Oval Office, though Kamala has failed virtually every leadership test she’s been given since taking office. The border crisis? Still not fixed. According to recent polling, Harris’s unfavorability is so low that she’d lose to Trump in a 2024 matchup. Polls may be crap, but Joe Biden virtually always had a lead in national polling over Trump, which means Harris’s standing for the future of the Democratic Party is on very shaky ground.
And spare me the claims of racism. Barack Obama came into office in 2009 with historically high approval ratings. If Kamala were more likable and more competent, she’d likely be polling better. And the White House seems to have figured this out. Despite banking on passing the baton to Harris, the White House now seems to be experiencing buyer’s remorse. Heck, she was passed over for a trip to Japan to conduct diplomatic meetings during the Olympics in favor of Jill Biden, who has no political power whatsoever. Could there be a more obvious vote of no confidence?
But the White House is still stuck with her, and they have to give her something to do to help restore voters’ faith in her. So far, she’s failed every important leadership test. Is there any hope for her to make a comeback? I wouldn’t bet on it.
Related: Kamala Harris Is an Embarrassment the Media Can’t Spin Away
