Kamala Harris' Popularity Problem Goes From Bad to Worse—Poll

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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

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Kamala Harris' popularity has dropped to its lowest level in almost a year, with a recent poll showing that nearly half of the respondents had a negative opinion of the vice president.

According to a new NBC survey, a total of 49 percent of respondents had a negative opinion of Harris, with 39 percent having a "very negative" opinion and 10 percent "somewhat negative." Some 16 percent of respondents had a "neutral" opinion of the vice president, 21 percent a "somewhat positive" opinion and 11 percent a "very positive" opinion, while 3 percent weren't sure about it.

The survey was conducted on behalf of the news organization by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies on June 16 to 20. Some 42 percent of respondents identified as Democrats or leaned towards Democrats, while 41 percent were Republican voters or leaned towards Republicans.

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris waves as she arrives to speak at an Emily's List discussion on reproductive rights one year after the Dobbs decision, at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, on June 23, 2023. The polls... BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Polls conducted in previous months and years show that the number of people holding a negative opinion of Harris has been steadily growing since August 2020, when only 35 percent of respondents thought negatively of the vice president. Her results, according to NBC polls, were only lower in August 2022, when 40 percent of respondents had a "very negative" opinion of the vice president and 10 percent had a "somewhat negative" opinion.

According to website FiveThirtyEight, which shows a national polling average, a majority of 51.6 percent of Americans disapproved of Harris as of June 21, while 40.7 percent approved of the vice president.

In the first months of her mandate, the website shows that Harris' approval rating was much higher, with a majority of 55.2 percent of respondents saying they saw the vice president positively between April 2 and 25 of that year. On April 26, 2021, her approval rating dropped below the majority level and only got back above the 50 percent mark between May 29 and June 6, and between July 5 and August 5.

Since then, the vice president's approval rate has remained below 50 percent, with more Americans looking at Harris negatively than positively.

At a certain point, on November 8, 2021, she was one of the least popular vice presidents in modern American history, as her approval rate plunged to 28.9 percent, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight.

The vice president's underwhelming approval rating could be a drag on Joe Biden's ticket for the 2024 presidential election.

"There's no doubt Harris is a drag on the ticket, but the extent to which she'll pull down Biden will largely depend on who the Republican nominee is," Thomas Gift, associate professor of Political Science at University College London (UCL) in the U.K., told Newsweek.

"If it's Trump, then her impact will be near zero because the difference in the presidential choices will be so stark," he said. "If it's another GOP nominee, then the prospect of Harris in the White House may be enough to swing a few voters over to the opposing side."

"Biden can't afford to dispense with Harris for all the obvious reasons—identity politics, and the prospect of alienating a small fraction of the progressive base being chief among them," Gift commented. "But anyone in the White House who's being intellectually honest would tell you that Biden knows Harris offers very little by way of help in his re-election bid."

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About the writer

Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more