The American people have a more favorable view of former president Donald Trump than they do of Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a recent NBC News poll.
According to the national survey, just 32 percent of American adults have a positive view of Harris, compared with 37 percent who said the same about Trump. The politicians are viewed negatively by a similar portion of Americans; 49 percent for Harris and 51 percent for Trump. For the sake of comparison, 39 percent of poll respondents said they had a positive view of President Joe Biden, with 48 percent expressing a negative opinion.
Harris's net popularity rating (-17) is historically bad. It is the worst rating for any vice president at this point in their first term since NBC News started polling in 1990. Even former vice presidents Mike Pence (-6) and Dan Quayle (-9) were viewed more favorably. Not surprisingly, Dick Cheney was the highest-rated vice president with a net popularity rating of +51 after his first year in office.
The embarrassing result is not an outlier for Harris, who has recorded an average popularity rating of -17.2 across five different polls conducted between December 5, 2021, and January 18, 2022. That is presumably why journalists keep asking questions about whether Harris will be on the Democratic ticket in 2024. (They are genuinely concerned.)
That said, Biden isn't significantly more popular than his vice president. Just 28 percent of Americans, and 48 percent of Democrats, want him to run for reelection in 2024, according to the Associated Press. "I don't believe the polls," Biden huffed in Trumpian fashion during last week's marathon press conference. The president's denial notwithstanding, all evidence suggests Democrats are heading toward a monumental defeat in the upcoming midterm elections.
The NBC News poll found just 5 percent of Americans agree with Biden's assessment that he has "probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen" in the first year of his presidency. Just 32 percent of respondents gave Biden a positive rating when it comes to his leadership qualities and his ability to handle a crisis. Just 24 percent rated him positively in terms of "uniting the country."
Biden is 79 years old and declining by the day. His decision to put one of the least likable politicians (apart from Hillary Clinton) in the country a "heartbeat away from the presidency" is a poor reflection on his judgment, to say the least.