Politicians have long been known to tout their accomplishments – and no one could argue that former President Donald Trump has made some dubious claims over the years.
However, Vice President Kamala Harris caught many of her critics off guard this week after she made the equally suspect claim that she has “great approval ratings.”
Current polls, of course, would suggest otherwise.
In an interview on Monday with ABC’s Linsey Davis, the vice president dismissed the fact she had the lowest approval rating of any vice president. Davis asked direct, “How much role, if any, do you feel race and gender play in that?”
Instead of addressing the question head on, Harris responded, “Well, there are polls that also say I have great approval ratings! I think the point that has to be made is that there are attempts to create distractions away from the accomplishments of our administration.”
The vice president didn’t name any of the polls, nor provided any evidence that she, in fact, has strong approval. As The Washington Examiner reported, “no recent surveys show her higher than 44%,” citing data from FiveThirtyEight.
Last month Newsweek reported that her approval rating was lower than President Joe Biden’s after the first six months of 2023, yet, it has remained largely stable since January. Figures from poll tracker FiveThirtyEight further showed that the vice president enjoyed an approval rating of 39.2 percent as of June 26, while disapproval of Harris stood at 51.3 percent.
Reactions on Social Media
It didn’t take long for critics of VEEP Harris to call her out on social media.
“There are literally zero polls showing Kamala Harris with ‘great approval ratings,'” GOP rapid response director Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) tweeted. He went on to share the latest NBC’s poll, which showed that only 32 percent of respondents had a positive view, compared to 49 percent negative and 39 percent very negative. “Was this one of the ‘great’ polls she was talking about?”
Republican National Committee (RNC) member Jay Shepard (@JaytheShepard1) was even more direct, tweeting, “Now we can all laugh at her the way she laughs.”
Kamala Harris: Downplaying the Negative – Maybe
Even as an NBC poll conducted in June found that she had a net rating of -17, the lowest rating for any vice president in the history of the poll, some have suggested it isn’t all that bad.
“Polls are a snapshot of the time, they certainly do not define the time,” Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist, told Yahoo News. “And no poll can measure the effectiveness of Vice President Harris and how consequential she is not just to the Democratic Party, and to this administration, but to the country.”
Moreover, the newly released New York Times/Siena College poll found that 26 percent of Democratic primary voters would feel “enthusiastic” if VP Harris was the party’s nominee for president, compared to just 20 percent who said the same for Biden. In addition, 51 percent of voters said they would feel “satisfied” with Biden as the party’s nominee, while 41 percent said the same of Harris.
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
From 19FortyFive
