A new poll finds voters view Vice President Kamala Harris slightly more favorably than they did in July, just after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race
Until recently, Lillian Dunsmuir of Bullhead City, Arizona, “didn’t really think about” Kamala Harris and had no opinion of the vice president. But now she likes what she’s seeing.
“She’s funny. I think she’s very smart. She can speak well,” said Dunsmuir, a 58-year-old real estate agent. “I would feel safe with her because I think she can handle herself with foreign leaders. I like her because she’s for pro-choice, and so am I.”
Voters view Harris slightly more favorably than they did in July, just after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The Democratic presidential nominee is now seen more positively than negatively. Former President Donald Trump’s favorability ratings remained steady, although the poll was conducted prior to the apparent assassination attempt of the Republican nominee on his golf course in Florida on Sunday.
According to the survey, about half of voters have a somewhat or very positive view of Harris, and 44% have a somewhat or very negative view. That’s a small shift since late July, just after Biden dropped out of the race, when views of Harris were slightly more unfavorable than favorable. Six in 10 voters, meanwhile, have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Trump, while about 4 in 10 have a somewhat or very favorable view of him.
Changes in views of national figures like Biden, Trump or Harris have been rare over the past few years. Trump’s favorability rating didn’t budge over the course of the summer, despite a felony conviction, a close call with a would-be assassin in Pennsylvania, and a new opponent in the presidential contest.
But Trump has prevailed in the past with similarly low favorability ratings. He won the 2016 election despite being broadly unpopular, and came close to winning in 2020 under similar conditions.
The survey also found that relatively small shares of voters — around one-third — say the phrase “would change the country for the better” describes Trump or Harris extremely or very well, suggesting that voters retain some gloom about their options in the race.
