Democratic leaders and strategists blamed Kamala Harris’s record-low approval ratings as vice president on President Joe Biden, saying he "set her up to fail from day one," according to Time magazine.
Harris’s dismal record on voters’ top issues, including illegal immigration, has come under scrutiny since she became her party’s presidential candidate. Democratic supporters, in a Time magazine cover story on Harris, blamed Biden for handing Harris his dirty work, leading to her widespread unpopularity as vice president.
"It’s always hard for the Vice President, because the President is the one setting the policy, taking the responsibility," Harris ally Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) told Time. "And historically, Vice Presidents have often taken on the work that the President doesn’t want to do."
As vice president, Harris was tapped by Biden to be the point person on immigration. Since the administration has been in office, more than 7.8 million migrants, including nearly 100 individuals on the terrorist watch list, have illegally crossed the border.
Two years ago, Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act, which critics say is a key contributor to higher prices for Americans. Inflation has jumped to around 20 percent, compared to 8 percent under the former administration.
By 2023, Harris’s record earned her the lowest approval rating of any vice president in American history.
Democrats also blamed the vice president’s weak record on her inability to keep a consistent staff. Harris’s staff turnover rate was nearly 91.5 percent during her first year as vice president, according to OpenTheBooks.com, and past employees have come out saying Harris consistently berated and looked down on her staff members.
"She needs a few political consiglieres in her life. She doesn’t have a North Star guiding her," one Democratic strategist told Time. "She has made novice political moves that the political elite and the pundits have glommed onto, that have pushed the narrative that she’s not ready for prime time."