Even though President Biden has endorsed Vice President Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket, recent polls find little difference between how she and Biden stack up against Donald Trump. In a Washington Post average of 11 post-debate polls, Trump edged out Harris by 1.5 percentage points, only slightly less than his 1.9-point lead over Biden in the same polls.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll this month found 70 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents saying they would be “satisfied” if Biden stepped aside and Harris became the Democratic nominee.
In that same poll, 29 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents volunteered Harris as their choice for the party’s nomination if Biden stepped aside in an open-ended question, while 7 percent mentioned California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), 4 percent named former first lady Michelle Obama and 3 percent each named Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). Half of Democrats didn’t name anyone specific as an alternative to Biden.
Earlier in July, the Economist and YouGov polled Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents on potential replacement candidates for Biden. Harris had the highest net approval rating out of the Democrats tested.
Other potential candidates, like Whitmer and Newsom, had similarly low disapproval ratings, but a much larger share of Democrats did not know who they were.
Beyond Biden, many other prominent Democrats have already rallied around Harris. However, she still needs to be selected by Democratic delegates to become the party’s nominee. Read more about the process here.