Oakley Graham, a Democrat from Greenwood, Missouri, said he was “pretty happy” with Biden’s performance in office but would have been more inclined to support Harris if she had been the top candidate and that it was “about time” to have a woman as president.
“I know he has unfinished business,” Graham, 30, said of Biden, “but it’s good to see people of color, women, young people stepping up and leading the charge. Hopefully it will inspire the younger generation to be more engaged.”
Black Adults: Main delegation Supporters of the Democratic coalition and groups who view Biden more favorably than other groups are more likely to say Harris would do well than Americans overall.
Americans in general are skeptical of how Harris would perform in the Oval Office: Only about 3 in 10 US adults overall say they think she would do a good job as president, while about half say she wouldn’t be able to handle the job and 2 in 10 say they don’t know enough to make a judgment.
Harris’ favorability rating is about the same as Biden’s, but the percentage of Americans with an unfavorable opinion is slightly lower. The poll found that about four in 10 U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of Harris, while about half have an unfavorable opinion. About six in 10 Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Biden, more than Biden. About one in 10 Americans say they don’t know enough about Harris to form an opinion, but almost everyone has an opinion about Biden.
About three-quarters of Democrats have a favorable view of Harris, which is in line with how Democrats view Biden: Seven in 10 have a favorable view of Harris.
Shannon Bailey, a Tampa Democrat, praised Biden’s performance as president, particularly his infrastructure legislation and efforts to curb inflation, and said he “will be fondly remembered.” But she has a more favorable view of Harris than the incumbent president, because she seems “better equipped to handle the demanding nature of the job.”
“It’s not just physical stamina that’s important right now, it’s cognitive reasoning that’s important,” said Bailey, 34. “It’s important to be able to communicate today’s Democratic policies succinctly and persuasively.”
Bailey said Democrats need a running mate who can join Harris “in really motivating people to get to the polls,” but questioned whether Biden could play that role effectively.
Harris has been the administration’s leading voice on abortion issues and is well-liked by many Democrats.
“I think she’s a strong supporter of abortion, always has been and always will be,” said Thomas Mattman, a Democrat from Chico, Calif. “They picked a white man as their candidate, and both of them have been pretty specific about their opposition to abortion, so I think that makes a very strong case.”
Mattman, 59, said he doesn’t think Biden will be able to beat Republican nominee Donald Trump, calling the prospect “very disturbing.” He said Harris would be a much stronger candidate because Biden won’t be able to “pressure” his opponent and exploit his weaknesses.
Harris is more popular among black Americans than white and Hispanic adults, and more disliked by men than women.
Other prominent Democrats being mentioned as possible successors are less well known than Harris, and roughly 4 in 10 U.S. adults have no opinion of the California governor. Gavin Newsomhalf don’t know who Michigan’s governor is. Gretchen WhitmerViews of Governor Newsom are generally more negative than positive. Americans are roughly evenly split on Governor Whitmer, with 24% holding a favorable view and 22% holding an unfavorable view.
More Democrats think Harris would be a better president than Newsom or Whitmer, in part because they are less well known. About a third of Democrats say Newsom would be a good president, and half don’t know enough to say. About a quarter of Democrats say Whitmer would do well, and about two-thirds don’t know enough to say.
Senator and President Trump’s running mate. J.D. Vance Vance, a native of Ohio, is unknown to most Americans. In an AP-NORC poll conducted before Trump selected Vance as his running mate, 6 in 10 said they didn’t know enough about him to form an opinion. About 2 in 10 U.S. adults have a favorable view of Vance and about 2 in 10 have an unfavorable view. Among Republicans, 61 percent say they don’t know enough about Vance to form an opinion. About a quarter have a favorable view of him and about 1 in 10 have an unfavorable view.
The poll was conducted July 11-15, 2024 among 1,253 adults using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, 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.
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