Democrats and the Republican operatives raising money from Rachel Maddow viewers all say that Donald Trump is a unique threat and menace to this country. If Joe Biden believes that, he will choose a running mate who is most likely to help him win the election. In that case, he should absolutely not pick Kamala Harris.
Biden is currently leading Trump in national polls and swing-state polls largely by staying out of the spotlight and letting Trump’s negatives drag him down. It’s an old rule in polling that “Generic Democrat” or “Generic Republican” generally outpolls every specific Democrat or Republican. That’s especially true when you’re running against an unpopular incumbent prone to public meltdowns. Biden, hiding in his basement, is as close to a generic Democrat as one can get.
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Harris would demolish Biden’s ability to make the election simply be about Trump. Picking her would convince plenty of independents and college-educated Republicans who can’t stand Trump that they need to hold their nose and vote against Biden.
Personally, I don’t want Biden to pick Harris because that would make Harris much closer to being president — especially considering Biden’s age. Harris is a vindictive culture warrior who would wield the power of the federal government against the people and institutions she doesn’t like, including religious schools, gun owners, and local governments.
But Democrats who are fine with that should still not want her as Biden’s running mate. She is a divisive and unlikable figure whose presence on the ticket will energize the Religious Right and sway some independents. And any time you want to take her down a peg, just go back and watch the video of Tulsi Gabbard gutting her like a fish on national television.
Want evidence she is disliked? Look at how she tanked in the polls as soon as she got national exposure during the Democratic debates. Throughout her presidential run, Gallup never found her to have higher favorables than unfavorables.
Her favorability ratings are rising, Newsweek blared in a June headline promoting her as a running mate, but they’re still bad. Among independents in that poll, for instance, Harris was underwater with 33% unfavorable to 25% favorable. Compare her to the other supposed finalists for the job: Stacy Abrams has 21% unfavorables, while Tammy Duckworth has 11%, and Val Demings had 8%.
Among Democratic voters in an April poll, Harris had the highest unfavorables of the potential running mates mentioned (20%) and the highest “very unfavorable” (7%).
Biden can win by being tolerable and not hated. Picking a disliked, kinda scary, vengeful, and demagogic cop as his running mate undermines that strategy.
