Throughout the Biden administration, opinions of Vice President Kamala Harris have improved and worsened along with those of President Joe Biden. But since Biden stepped aside as the party's nominee on July 21 — and Harris swiftly locked down support as his replacement — there have been sizable positive shifts in how the public views her, both personally and professionally. More Americans now say she is better equipped than Donald Trump to handle issues. Ratings of her likeability and authenticity also have improved.
Just before Biden's exit from the race, Harris was seen by Americans as better than Trump at handling LGBTQ issues, the environment, abortion, education, and health care. More preferred Trump to Harris for handling immigration, inflation, crime, and foreign policy. Since becoming the Democratic frontrunner, Harris has gained support in nearly all areas, including those which previously have been viewed as Trump's strengths. She gained at least 4 percentage points on every issue, with her largest gains coming on LGBTQ issues, crime, and the environment.
While Harris was performing similarly to Biden in hypothetical polling against Trump just before Biden stepped aside, as the presumptive nominee, she now outperforms Biden in all 10 issue areas polled about. On abortion, Harris is now 13 points more likely to be seen as better than Trump at handling it than Biden was in early July.
Positive perceptions of Harris' personal characteristics and abilities, relative to Trump's, have also increased in the days since she became the likely nominee. She is now 10 points more likely than Trump to be seen as likable; prior to becoming the nominee, she was 2 points less likely than Trump to be viewed as likable. She is now 4 points more likely to be described as authentic relative to Trump; before, she was 6 points less likely than Trump to have been seen that way. Harris still is seen as less charismatic and less of a strong leader than Trump, but she also has gained ground on those measures in recent weeks.
The survey also asked about potential vice presidential running mates for Harris, and found that many of them are relatively unknown by large portions of Democrats. Among those asked about, the best-known are Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, and Mark Kelly. The largest share of Democrats (59%) strongly or somewhat approve of Buttigieg as Harris' running mate, followed by Whitmer (50%), Kelly (49%), and Newsom (48%).
Related:
- After Biden's exit: Far more Democrats say they're optimistic, and most back Harris
- Harris vs. Trump: How Americans evaluate them on personality and policy
- Snap poll: Most Americans approve of Biden ending his re-election campaign
- If Biden steps aside, whom Democrats would want to replace him — and how
- How views of Biden and Trump changed after the first debate
- Snap post-debate poll: 30% of Democrats say 'someone else' would be a stronger candidate than Biden
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: This poll was conducted online on July 24 - 26, 2024 among 1,143 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens.. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
