Could Kamala Harris’ Poor Approval Ratings Hurt Joe Biden? – Vice President Kamala Harris was by all measures one of the most celebrated vice-presidential candidates in American history.
Not only was then-candidate Joe Biden’s decision to choose her as his running mate considered a historic moment for non-white women in America, but their eventual election made her the first-ever female vice president.
Throughout the inauguration and during the press conferences that soon followed, Kamala Harris had the media’s attention more than President Biden – but that media obsession never really translated into widespread public popularity. It didn’t even translate to public…acceptance.
In fact, ever since January, 2021, Kamala Harris’ poor approval ratings have broken records – and years into the job, it remains remarkably low.
According to the Los Angeles Times’ tracker, Harris’ popularity on inauguration day averaged out at just under 50%. Some polls from that time put her favorability in the mid-forties and her unfavorable rating as high as 50%.
Since then, Harris’ average approval rating has dropped substantially, falling consistently until spring, 2023. By February, Harris’ average approval rating has somewhat increased to a meager 41%.
This month, however, a Fox News poll showed the vice president’s approval rating dropping four points since January and sinking to a new low among Democrats.
The poll found that 73% of Democrats approve of Harris’ performance so far – a poor performance among her own party’s voters. Only 36% of independents, a crucial voting bloc, said that Harris is doing a good job and a tiny 15% of Republicans said that they have a favorable view of the vice president.
The good news for Harris is that her approval rating among independents has risen by six points since January – though, with little more than a third of independents backing her, it’s hard to see that number improving dramatically by the time of the next election.
Kamala Harris: A Problem for Biden?
Low approval ratings are certainly not a good thing for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, but they may not be the end of the world.
Biden himself has plenty to worry about with his own approval ratings, with Reuters/Ipsos polling showing the president with a 40% approval rating as of May 7, 2023. The same data shows that 54% of Americans disapprove of the job he’s doing.
Harris’ low approval ratings could theoretically make the situation even worse for the president.
At the same time, though, Biden won in 2020 in spite of Harris’ unpopularity – and, assuming that President Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, Biden may be banking on winning the election by presenting himself as the “least worst” option between the two.
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Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
