Democrats clamoring for Joe Biden to step aside may not find relief with Kamala Harris. Calls for her to replace Biden may seem like a good idea if you’re looking only at the opinions of Democrats, but her numbers with the national electorate are worse than Biden’s numbers.
By The Numbers:
According to Fivethirtyeight.com aggregate of national polling, Biden’s approval rating stands at 37.4%, and disapproval rating is 56.8%. Harris’s approval rating is 37.1% and her disapproval rating is 51.2%.
Democrats aren’t hearing those alarms. A YouGov poll of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents found 66% would approve of Harris being Biden’s replacement. She is the only potential replacement that polls as high within the party as Michelle Obama (also at 66%). Ms. Obama, of course, has absolutely no interest in running for president.
Pete Buttigieg is next highest, with 56% approval, followed by Gavin Newsom (54%), Elizabeth Warren (51%), Bernie Sanders (50%), Gretchen Whitmer (46%), Cory Booker (45%), Amy Klobuchar (41%), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (40%), Raphael Warnock (31%), Josh Shapiro (27%), Andy Beshear (27%), JB Pritzker (21%), and Wes Moore (18%).
The Bottom Line: As the Democratic Party might consider Harris as a natural replacement, she isn’t popular with the electorate-at-large. If Democrats go with Harris, they’re locking themselves into a base-only play, as she has less room to grow with swing voters and independents than even Biden. If Biden goes and Harris assumes his role, Donald Trump and Republicans could find themselves in the position of speaking directly to undecided and swing voters and offer stability about the GOP’s vision for the next four years while Democrats push Harris, who to those same voters represents more of the same and not real change from the policies of the last four years.
