In the immediate aftermath of Joe Biden’s convoluted decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race but remain president, Democrats and the press (but I repeat myself) were jubilant. They had overridden the will of their primary voters and booted a nominee who was well on his way to losing to Donald Trump in a landslide. Yes, it made a mockery of their claims to care about “democracy,” but as far as they were concerned, new life had been breathed into their chances going into November’s election.
Advertisement
The problem with that plan was obvious long before it was officially executed. How could Democrats eliminate Biden from the race and then pass over the “first, female black vice president” when selecting a new nominee? The answer has always been that they couldn’t. The moment Biden stepped aside, the choice was made because the Democratic Party is far too married to intersectional theory. Within 24 hours, a majority of delegates pledged to make Kamala Harris the nominee, making her the presumptive nominee.
Almost as quickly, the reality of what that meant began to set in. While the press continued to roll out puff pieces and television hits painting Harris as an ascendant figure, the actual data painted a very different story. Here’s one recent example from PPP, a Democrat pollster, showing Harris loses across the board in the swing states.
SEE: Polls on Harris Are Going to Make Dems Rip Their Hair Out for Subverting Democracy
Advertisement
On that front, the cope has been that once Harris becomes the official nominee, all of that will change. Suddenly, she’d stop being the worst politician of the last decade, often drawing negative comparisons to Hillary Clinton. The cackling would cease, the word salads would stop, and Harris would become a superstar, inspiring comfort and unity among American voters.
There’s just one problem with that theory: She’s still Kamala Harris.
When asked, only 21 percent of independents had a favorable view of Harris. The same percentage found her to be unlikable or unprepared, with another 16 percent resorting to other negative descriptions. Democrats might look at the number of independents who say they don’t know much about hurt and see an opportunity, but again, Harris is who she is.
Her vice presidency has been marred with high staff turnover, including numerous speech writers. None of them have been able to stop her awkward ticks, and reports have long said she’s incredibly stubborn about her self-presumed abilities. She isn’t going to change, and that means we can all look forward to more riffs on Venn diagrams and being unburdened by what has been.
Advertisement
Given that, how many of those who don’t know much about Harris are going to respond positively when bombarded with her on the campaign trail given those who do know a lot about her find her inauthentic and unlikable?
That’s the challenge for Democrats. Yeah, they pulled off their soft coup and forced an incumbent president who had won the primary off the ballot. Now what? They have to try to turn Harris into something that she isn’t, and that rarely succeeds in politics.