A clear majority of the public believes Mike Pence is prepared to be president, which isn’t true of Kamala Harris. Yet people are much more likely to say Harris would be a better president than Pence would.
That’s one finding from the latest Washington Examiner poll, conducted by YouGov. It implies that millions of voters believe Harris would be a better vice president than Pence, while also believing Pence is better prepared. In other words, a lot of voters don’t really care about preparedness when choosing a president. That’s unsurprising when you recall who our last two presidents have been: A reality-show host and an author four years out of the state senate.
When Barack Obama was running against Hillary Clinton for the nomination in 2008, he was asked about his relevant experience. Clinton, after all, had lived in the White House and been an active member of a presidential administration for eight years. She also had the preparation of being secretary of state and had served longer in the Senate than Obama had. Obama’s executive experience: running his presidential campaign.
Democratic primary voters in 2008 ranked experience and preparedness below “Hope” and “Change” — Obama’s intellect, his vision, and what he represented all mattered more than whether he was prepared.
Then, in the general election, facing a choice between a venerable senator with foreign policy experience and unmatched real-life experience, the electorate chose the young, inspiring guy again.
In 2016, the Republican electorate had a ton of multi-term governors in the primary field, but none of them had the skills, demeanor, and worldview they wanted.
Was Trump prepared to be president? Not by any traditional sense of the word. He had only run small businesses and didn’t really understand how Washington worked. That didn’t matter. He won the primary and the general.
So now voters think Pence is more prepared than Harris to be president — obviously, he is, having been vice president for four years and having served two terms as governor. That’s not that important, apparently.
A full 56% of voters say Pence is well prepared to be president, which includes 28% of Democrats. Only 36% say he is not well prepared. With Harris, it’s 49% saying she’s well prepared compared to 44% saying she’s not.
However, when asked who would be a better president, Harris wins 51% to 43%. Preparedness, at least the older understanding of the word, takes a back seat.
