New poll reveals what Democrats think of Harris as president

With President Biden’s future uncertain, a majority of Democrats say the country would be in good hands if his vice president were to take over the White House. 

A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about six in 10 Democrats believe that Vice President Kamala Harris would do a good job as president herself. About two in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another two in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

The survey comes as an increasing number of Democratic officials are publicly urging Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election after his disastrous debate performance on June 27. Democratic officials are worried that voters don’t believe that the 81-year-old president is capable of performing his duties, and many have suggested that Harris or another candidate would fare better against the Republican nominee, former President Trump. 

Recent polls show Democratic voters have soured on Biden as well. A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of Massachusetts residents found that 64% of likely Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters want someone other than Biden to face off against Trump. The AP-NORC national survey likewise found that 65% of Democrats say Biden should drop out of the race. 

While Harris is the focus of several insider discussions for a plan B ticket, the vice president has maintained strong public support for Biden and defended him from slings and arrows thrown by panicked party officials speaking anonymously to the press.

But if Harris, 59, were to replace Biden atop the ticket, Democratic voters would mostly be happy with the younger candidate — a woman of color who could champion the party’s message on abortion rights, and a former state attorney general who could prosecute the Democratic Party’s case against voting for Trump.

Harris could also motivate key Democratic constituencies to show up on Election Day, including women and Black adults, who were more likely than Americans overall to say Harris would do well as president. 

Americans outside the Democratic Party were more skeptical of how Harris would perform in the Oval Office. Only about three in 10 Americans say Harris would be a good president. Nearly half said Harris would not do a good job, and two in 10 say they don’t know enough to have an opinion. 

Harris’ favorability rating is similar to Biden’s, but the share of Americans who have an unfavorable opinion of her is somewhat lower. The poll showed that about four in 10 U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of Harris, while about half have an unfavorable opinion. There are more Americans with a negative view of Biden: approximately six in 10. About one in 10 Americans say they don’t know enough to have an opinion of Harris, whereas nearly everyone has an opinion on Biden.

About three-quarters of Democrats have a positive view of Harris, which is in line with how Democrats view Biden. Seven in 10 have a favorable view of him.

Harris is also better-known among Democrats than other potential candidates, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. About one-third of Democrats say Newsom would make a good president, and half don’t know enough to say. About one-quarter of Democrats say Whitmer would do well, and about two-thirds don’t know enough to say.

The AP poll of 1,253 adults was conducted July 11-15, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.