Vice President Kamala Harris is the pick of a plurality of voters to be the Democratic nominee four years from now — but barely one-third think she has any chance of winning the White House, according to a new poll.
The Politico/Morning Consult survey released Wednesday found that 21% of respondents wanted Harris to be the 2028 Democratic standard-bearer, the most of any named candidate — including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (10% each).
Another 41% said they didn’t know or had no opinion on the 2028 Democratic nominee.
Despite the preference for Harris, just 34% told the outlet they thought Harris was “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to win the general election, while 57% said it was either “not too likely” or “not likely at all.”
The survey also indicated that Harris, like Biden, is suffering from poor approval ratings — with 42% of respondents saying they had a very favorable or somewhat favorable impression of the veep and 52% saying they had an unfavorable impression.
Biden had similar favorability numbers in the poll, with 43% saying they had a good impression of him and 54% saying otherwise.
The poll further shows Harris unable to improve her standing in voters’ eyes when it comes to a number of topics and personality traits.
For example, 48% disagreed with the description of Harris as a “strong leader” (42% agreed); 49% said they didn’t trust her to handle the economy (42% said they did); 50% said they wouldn’t trust her with immigration (40% said they would); 48% showed doubts about her national security abilities (42% thought she could handle it); and 50% said she couldn’t handle relations with China or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (just 37% and 36% thought Harris could deal effectively with those respective issues).
Even if Harris is elected president in 2028, just 40% of voters think she would make a good president, while 51% predicted she would not.
Voters were also split about whether Biden should replace Harris on the 2024 Democratic ticket, with 36% saying he should swap her out, 39% saying he should keep her on and 26% saying they didn’t know or had no opinion.
The Politico/Morning Consult national tracking poll surveyed 3,996 registered voters May 28-29. It has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.0 percentage points.
