Posted on 08/01/21
| News Source: The Hill
Vice President Harris has some ground to make up in order to be perceived more favorably by the public, a complicating factor for the Biden administration as it maps out its midterm strategy.
Six months into office, polls indicate Harris is viewed less favorably than President Biden. She has also made some tactical missteps outside of the White House that Democrats say show she hasn’t quite yet found her bearings.
Vice presidents historically do not outperform the leader at the top of the ticket. But her lower ratings haven’t gone unnoticed.
In a trio of recent surveys, Harris earned a combined unfavorable rating of 46 percent, according to an aggregate average compiled by RealClearPolitics. That number is 3 points below Biden’s 43 percent in the same category.
In an Economist-YouGov poll conducted from July 24 to 27, Harris’s unfavorable figure reached 48 percent.
A midterm visit by the vice president to a congressional district is generally a way to create crowds and win attention for candidates, but Harris’s polling numbers are raising questions about how she might be used as Democrats seek to hold on to slim majorities in the House and Senate.
“As of right now, I think she has the potential of doing more harm than good for some of these candidates,” said one Democratic strategist. “My sense is she’ll probably raise a lot of money and maybe she’ll go to some specific districts, but they’ll have to be really strategic with her.”