POLITICS
What is Kamala Harris’ approval rating? Is it better or worse than Donald Trump’s?
As Biden has now dropped out of the presidential race, we look at how VP Kamala Harris, who he endorsed as the Democratic nominee, would fare against Trump.
President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on Sunday after several party members and voters called upon him to do so with his age and mental fitness called into question. For weeks, Biden pushed back against the calls for him to resign and insisted he would see it through. Now that he’s officially announced he will in fact step down, he’s endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee to take his place.
Biden steps down as presidential candidate: Live updates
Although Harris is now the frontrunner to replace Biden, her chances of beating Donald Trump may be hurt by her approval ratings. Still, polls show her performing better than several other potential Biden replacements and as a woman of color, would likely win the Black and Hispanic voters, two groups that Biden had lost support from since 2020.
How does Kamala Harris’ approval rating compare to Donald Trump’s?
In general, Harris and Trump both have negative approval ratings, but the exact figures vary amongst pollsters. Biden has been leading in the polls against Trump for months, but only by a small margin. After the June 27 presidential debate, several polls show Harris performing roughly the same as Biden against Trump.
- A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted last week gave Harris a slight edge by three points, with 39% approving of Harris’ performance and 51% disapproving, with a net approval of -12. That same poll gave Trump an approval rating of -9, with 54% viewing him favorably and 45% viewing him unfavorably.
- Another poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos was released Tuesday, just after the attempted assassination of Trump. It found that both Biden and Harris are statistically tied with Trump.
- FiveThirtyEight conducted the most recent analysis of contemporary polling which they released on July 17, and it showed Harris with a net approval rating of -11.8, with just 38.6% saying they approve of her performance and 50.4% disapproving. On July 21, that same election website gave Trump a slightly lower net approval rating of -12, with 41.7% seeing him favorably and 53.7% unfavorably. However, there was some disparity in those polls as to whether all U.S. adults were polled or only registered voters.
- Another poll conducted by Bendixen & Amandi and released on July 9 found that Harris would beat Trump 42% to 41%.
- A poll conducted by HarrisX gave Trump a significant lead, showing an overall disapproval of -9 to Harris’ -15 in a survey of 1,918 registered voters. The same poll showed Harris with a 39% approval to 54% disapproval and Trump with 43% favorability and 52% viewing him unfavorably.
- However, a survey of 3,500 registered voters conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on July 15 showed Harris’ approval rating at -2 with 39% approving of her performance and 41% disapproving.
It should be kept in mind that while all of these polls show Harris with relatively the same approval rating as Biden against Trump, they were conducted before he dropped out of the race and several other Democrats rushed to endorse Harris. The endorsements could lead to a polling surge for Harris.
A recent poll from AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 6 out of 10 Democrats believe Harris would make a good president, with two saying she would not, and other two saying they don’t know enough to give an opinion.
However, a poll of Americans found just 3 in 10 U.S. adults say that Harris would be a good president with five saying she would not and two not knowing enough to say.