By Bill Wilson
After Sunday’s announcement from President Joe Biden that he will not be seeking reelection after a debilitating election season that culminated in his dazed debate performance, all eyes have shifted toward his likely successor, Vice President Kamala Harris. While Biden endorsed her and she has amassed the majority of the delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination, the American people are wary.
Harris was copilot for four of the most debilitating years in our nation’s history, overseeing crippling inflation, a migrant crime crisis, and foreign policy missteps that have weakened our nation’s place in the world. Not to mention, Harris may have sat by as Vice President while our current President’s functionality declined to such a degree that he was forced to end his campaign, while continuing to allegedly run our country. It would be easy to write Harris off as an easy to beat candidate based on her record, but there is more to it.
Large financial support appears to be on Harris’ side. According to CBS News, her newly minted presidential campaign raked in over $100 million dollars between Sunday evening and Monday afternoon, a vast groundswell in just 24 hours or so. Fortune also reported that mega-donors George and Alex Soros were among the first to align with Harris after Biden’s announcement. As reported by the New York Post, major Wall Street financial players are circling around the Harris campaign with the possibility of strong endorsements as well. Deep-pocketed global interests have chosen where to align, and that is not something to dismiss no matter who the candidate is.
Harris may be tied to the failing Biden administration, suffer low approval ratings and be considered ineffective by a majority of Americans, but that does not mean she is a non-threat, especially with lucrative endorsements and the mainstream media singing her praises. How does Harris fair in the court of public opinion? As of now, not particularly well, but with the right resources directed toward swaying public opinion, that could shift.
Harris suffers a strong disapproval rating after four years in the public eye attached to the Biden administration’s failing agenda, and most of the public neither believes she can win nor believes that she would do a better job of handling key issues than former President Donald Trump. On five core issues – the border, crime, guns, inflation and foreign policy – Americans trust Trump over Harris by broad margins.
Harris, however, leads Trump on four issues which generally rank lower in importance to the public – abortion, healthcare, the environment and LGBTQ issues. A heavy focus on social justice issues, the abortion issue framed as a women’s rights issue, gender identity issues and the environment will likely form the thrust of her campaign. It will be incredibly difficult for Harris to go toe to toe with Trump on most of the issues that are top of mind to the American people, considering she was part of the Biden administration’s failures on the economy, the border, and foreign policy.
The public reaction to the prospect of a President Harris has not been particularly warm. According to a YouGov survey released Monday, the largest share of the public believes Harris would be “much less qualified” to be president compared to previous Democratic nominees for president. Twenty-eight percent of the public thinks Harris would be “much less qualified”, while nine percent say she would be “somewhat less qualified”. On the other side of the spectrum, 14 percent say Harris would be “much more qualified” compared to previous nominees, and 16 percent believe she would be “somewhat more qualified”. An additional 22 percent of Americans think she would be “about as qualified” as other nominees.
A YouGov poll conducted July 19th-21st also reveals Americans largely believe that in a head-to-head race Trump would definitely or probably beat Harris by a 32-point margin. Fifty-five percent of the public believes Trump would win in that matchup, compared to 23 percent who say Harris would win.
Americans trust Trump over Harris to handle immigration by 15 points, 45 percent to 30 percent, and inflation by 14 points, 43 percent to 29 percent. Americans also trust Trump over Harris on crime by twelve points, 41 percent to 29 percent. Americans also trust Trump over Harris on foreign policy by twelve points, 44 percent to 32 percent and on guns by six points, 40 percent to 34 percent.
However, the public trusts Harris over Trump by relatively wide margins on the environment and abortion. The public trusts Harris over Trump by eleven points on the environment, 41 percent to 30 percent, and by twelve points on abortion, 43 percent to 31 percent. On healthcare, the public narrowly trusts Harris over Trump by five points, 40 percent to 35 percent. These margins in Harris’ favor are relatively modest considering the Democratic Party has made abortion, the environment and healthcare large focal points for years now.
Harris also leads Trump on LGBTQ issues which consistently rank extremely low in priority for the general population. Harris leads Trump by 21 points on LGBTQ issues, 43 percent to 22 percent.
On issues that consistently rank as highly important to voters, Trump is ahead by double digits. Inflation, immigration, and foreign policy are all top issues for voters, and areas where Trump has a strong record to highlight and where the public consistently places faith in that record. Abortion, healthcare and the environment are issues that rank moderately important to the public in most polls, and these are issues where Trump’s support is weaker. Harris’ widest margin of support is on LGBTQ issues, which rank near the bottom in terms of importance according to most polls.
While Harris may be a poor Vice President and a poor candidate, she is being buoyed by deep-pocketed interests who want to see her installed in the Oval Office come January. Conservatives should focus on exposing the Biden administration’s vast failures with inflation, the border, and foreign policy. They should also develop adequate rebuttals to Harris and the left’s inevitably radical healthcare and environmental proposals. Conservatives would also do well to step back and allow Harris to run her campaign in circles focusing on fringe social issues. Harris is not a joke of a candidate – certainly not with the vast number of resources she is likely to draw in from deep-pocketed donors. But she is still very, very out of touch, and that blindness is her weakest spot.
Bill Wilson is the former president of Americans for Limited Government.
