Early signs suggest Kamala Harris has some work to do in a large swing state to prevent it from falling to Donald Trump after Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Harris has 107 days to build a campaign around herself to beat Trump after Biden endorsed her on Sunday, making the former senator and California attorney general the presumptive nominee.
While she has the backing of Biden and many of his potential rivals for the nomination, she also has to find a way to hold on to the several purple states Biden won in 2020 to win the race.
One of those states, Georgia, now poses a problem for Harris, as a poll taken just before Biden dropped out of the race shows her trailing.
In a poll of 1,000 Georgians conducted July 9-18, Trump leads Harris 51 to 46.
Early signs suggest Kamala Harris has some work to do in a key swing state to prevent it from falling to Donald Trump after Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
One percent of respondents said they would vote for a third-party candidate, while another two percent are undecided.
While that’s a bad result for Harris, one thing she supports is that she did better than her boss among the same voters.
In it Atlanta Constitution Magazine According to the poll, Trump leads Biden by 48 to 45.
Although Biden is fewer points behind Trump, Harris has a better lead and comes out of the poll with some other positive points.
Harris polls better than Biden among registered Democrats (92 percent to 86 percent) and Black voters (91 percent to 82 percent), both key demographics for the party.
However, she starts off underwater in terms of favorability, with 42 percent of respondents saying they view her positively and 53 percent having an unfavorable view of Harris.
In the same poll, Biden’s approval rating was 41 percent versus 57 percent who view her unfavorably.
He also has work to do with independents, where he is 11 points behind Trump, which could be potentially fatal.
In a poll of 1,000 Georgians conducted July 9-18, Trump leads Harris by a count of 51 to 46.
Harris has 107 days to build a campaign around herself to beat Trump after Biden endorsed her on Sunday, making the former senator and California attorney general the presumptive nominee.
Biden defeated Trump by just 11,779 votes in 2020 and is the subject of one of several lawsuits facing Trump over election interference.
Before that, the last Democrat to win the presidential race in the Peach State was Bill Clinton in 1992.
The state remains an electoral tie, as the Republican Party still holds the governor’s mansion while Democrats now own both Senate seats.
Trump has already said he thinks Harris will be even easier to beat than Biden.
At her first rally after being shot, Trump had already tried out a new nickname for her when he saw that Harris would be taking over the Democrats’ campaign.
“From the moment we take back the White House from Joe Biden and Kamala, the crooks… I’m going to call her Kamala the Laughter. Have you ever seen her? She’s crazy,” Trump said at his rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday.
He added: “You can tell a lot by the laughter that she’s crazy. She’s nuts. She’s not as crazy as Nancy (Pelosi).”
The former president also took to his Truth Social account on Sunday afternoon to respond to the news that he will no longer face Biden in November.
The state remains an electoral tie, as the Republican Party still holds the governor’s mansion while Democrats now own both Senate seats thanks to victories by Jon Ossoff (pictured left) and Raphael Warnock (pictured center).
Trump has already said he thinks Harris will be even easier to beat than Biden.
“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to be President and is certainly not fit to hold office. And he never was! He only rose to the office of President through lies, fake news, and staying out of his basement,” she wrote. “Everyone around him, including his doctor and the media, knew he was not fit to be President, and he was not.”
Trump concluded: “We will suffer greatly from his presidency, but we will very quickly remedy the damage he has done.”
Biden is not yet the official Democratic Party nominee and there is little time left to replace him before next month’s Democratic National Convention and avoid an open convention.
The party’s nominating event will take place from August 19 to 22 in Chicago, Illinois. It now appears that Harris will be at the top of the Democratic ticket at the end of that week, after primary voters cast their ballots for Biden to be the nominee.
Harris was initially furious at reports that she was not being considered for the post, but it soon became clear to Democrats that she was the best choice to replace Biden.
Now begins the selection of the current vice president for her second spot. Shortlisted candidates could include California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, both previously considered possible replacements for Biden if he steps down.
A local NBC affiliate in Sacramento, California, reported Sunday that Newsom abruptly canceled his appearance at the 9th U.S. Circuit judicial conference scheduled for Monday without giving a reason.
Trump was among those who speculated that former first lady Michelle Obama would enter the race and lead the 2024 Democratic ticket. She has so far polled best among all of Biden’s potential replacements.
But Biden made it clear that he is backing his vice president for the 2024 race.
“My first decision as the party’s nominee in 2020 was to choose Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” the president wrote in X. “And it has been the best decision I have ever made.”
He added: “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year. Democrats, it’s time to unite and defeat Trump. Let’s do it.”
