By Vice President Kamala Harris has the inside edge on taking over the Democratic ticket if the party manages to push the president out.
Despite Harris being considered one of the worst vice presidents in history, the potential replacement of Biden raises some concerns among the GOP. Republicans are wary of the shift in dynamics this could bring. They fear Harris’s rise might energize the Democratic base, potentially altering the political landscape.
Axios spoke to those close to the Republican frontrunner and explained what they’re most worried about as the Democrats continue their meltdown.
Trump’s attacks on her would surprise few. He’d argue Harris is too liberal, too hostile to business and secure borders, and too inexperienced, weak and phony to be president. But some of his advisers are quite concerned that a fresh, youthful, non-Biden ticket presents a bigger threat than Trump assumes.
What would scare Trump most is if Democrats were to build a new ticket from scratch, topped by a moderate Democrat from a swing state.
Trump advisers read the same polls you do: They know lots of voters want someone younger, sensible, experienced. They know all that matters is persuadable voters in seven swing states. They know these swing voters mostly consider themselves independent.
What keeps Republicans up at night, the outlet continues, is the idea of Harris making a choice in a running mate that fixes the Democratic “big blue wall” in the Midwestern states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. “If Democrats picked a moderate Midwestern male as Harris’ running mate, the Harris-topped ticket would be more formidable, Republicans tell us.
The Trump team’s biggest concern, and some early polling flicks at why, is that Harris would help turn out more women, who historically vote in greater numbers than men. Harris — armed with Democrats’ abortion message, which worked well in off-year elections — could leverage the nation’s gender divide.”
Some who could fit the bill include the billionaire Governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Senator from Ohio, Sherrod Brown, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Those close to Trump also worry that he won’t be able to filter his comments about Harris, refusing to “recognize that attacking a Black American, South Asian American woman could backfire among swing voters, where they think they’re making inroads.”
A new poll, however, may put GOP minds at ease and make Democrats think twice about putting Harris, who ran a terrible 2020 campaign, up as their champion.
The Daily Mail writes that “according to a survey of 1,000 likely voters, conducted in the days following Biden’s catastrophic CNN debate performance last Thursday, Harris would lose to Donald Trump by 11 percentage points in a hypothetical election head-to-head – 38 to 49 percent.
Biden, despite struggling for 90 minutes to form complete sentences on live TV, only trailed Trump by five points in a head-to-head matchup – 42 to 47 percent.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama also outperformed Harris – coming up short against Trump by five points.
All other names floated as possible Biden replacements – Whitmer, Newsom, Transportation Secretary Peter Buttigieg – lose to Trump by double digits.”
Trump recently gave Harris one of his patented nicknames, writing on his social media website, Truth Social, “Also, respects to our potentially new Democrat Challenger Laffin’ Kamala Harris. She did poorly in the Democrat Nominating process, starting out at Number Two, and ending up defeated and dropping out, before getting to Iowa, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a ‘highly talented’ politician!”
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