Staff Reports
Kamala Harris seems to think that she has a better chance at sitting in the Oval Office than Joe Biden, whose polling numbers have made him about as popular as a soggy piece of toast. Reports indicate that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is busy crafting her fantasy cabinet by narrowing down her list of potential vice presidential running mates. It’s almost as if Harris believes her ambition can power her right past a disastrous midterm performance and into the annals of history.
With the Democratic National Convention looming just around the corner, Harris has reportedly whittled her list down to eight candidates. This exclusive group includes the likes of Arizona Governor Mark Kelly and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Some may say she has fine taste in governors—if one overlooks their abysmal job performance and increasingly irrelevant state policies. Others included on Harris’s not-so-dream-team are North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, Minnesota’s Tim Walz, and Illinois’s J.B. Pritzker, all of whom are definitely not known for their wild popularity amid the electorate.
A lot of discussion about Kamala's VP pick so here's my tier list. The order is based more so on how well the ticket would do rather than my views of the candidate. pic.twitter.com/Ic8puHKOry
— Gulf Coast Democrat☀️🐟 (@gulfcoastdem) July 21, 2024
To set the scene, it bears mentioning that President Biden was effectively pushed out of the limelight after the Democrats realized that, no matter how hard he tried, he simply could not recover from the political grave that his approval ratings have dug for him. Now, with a virtual vote on the horizon, the party is scrambling to get their house in order, hoping Harris can be their knight in shining armor—or at least a suitable placeholder until they find someone who can actually win a race.
Among the shortlisted candidates, voters do not seem to be buzzing with excitement. Polls reveal that Shapiro manages a strikingly low 17.7 percent approval rating for a vice presidential candidate, while Pritzker’s numbers are even worse at 10.4 percent. Only 22.3 percent of respondents think Kelly is cut out for the job, and Buttigieg, notoriously known for not knowing where his own priorities lie, nets a meager 31.3 percent. It turns out that nobody is particularly thrilled about these options, which may lead one to question if Harris should have consulted a magic eight ball instead.
As Harris plots her course to the White House, she’s clearly not reading the writing on the wall. Despite her best efforts to keep her nomination process as “drama-free” as possible, the reality is that the Democrats have cooked up quite the storm. Polls consistently show former President Trump leading Harris, with an increasing margin among likely voters. Recent surveys from multiple sources, including CNN and Rasmussen, show that she’s trailing Trump in a contest that many thought would be a cakewalk for the Democrats. There’s a level of irony in the fact that, in an environment where they hoped to circle the wagons, the drama surrounding Biden’s forced exit from the race could indeed be worth a box office ticket.
Harris should prepare for a showdown when November rolls around, armed with little more than vague platitudes and lackluster running mates. The path ahead doesn’t appear as smooth as she might hope. If only she could channel some of that ambition into knocking on doors or, you know, not picking a vice presidential team that the public would probably endorse about as enthusiastically as a trip to the dentist.
