At the time of writing, a poll compiled by FiveThirtyEight puts Biden at 37.5% and Harris at 39.4%.
According to the latest CNN national poll, Trump is leading Biden, 49 percent to 43 percent. In a hypothetical Trump-Harris race, the same poll showed Trump leading by a narrower margin, 47 percent to 45 percent. Not great numbers, but at least within the margin of error.
CNN also noted that “Harris has a slight edge over Biden among women (50% of female voters support Harris over Trump, compared with 44% for Biden) and independents (43% for Harris, 34% for Biden).”
Democratic Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina and former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan have already indicated their intention to support Harris’ nomination.
Harris has her flaws, of course, but at 59, no one believes she is too old for the duties of the presidency or the rigorous campaign schedule. She will likely stumble in a debate, but she is unlikely to mumble, utter half-assed remarks, or claim, as Biden so dreadfully did last week, that “I am the only president in this century, in the last decade, who has had no soldier deaths anywhere in the world.”
A Harris nomination would immediately eliminate the age issue and allow Democrats to fairly ask whether the 78-year-old Republican, with his record of outlandish statements, is mentally and physically fit to serve as president. (Trump turns 80 in June 2026.)
Nominating Harris would also give Democrats a chance to stop being the party of the status quo. Harris wouldn’t be able to separate herself from Biden’s record on inflation, the border, foreign wars, etc. But she could say, “I love Joe, but if I’m president, I’m going to do things a little differently. Instead of A, B, C, I’m going to do X, Y, and Z.” The alternative is to offer the American people four more years of Biden, who has a below 38% approval rating.
Following Biden’s terrible debate performance, White House aides said he was temporarily hampered by a cold. This is ridiculous. If he had a cold, why did he go to Waffle House after the debate and shake hands with everyone? If he was just sick, why didn’t Biden hold a televised press conference? His first extended on-camera interview is more than a week away, on Friday, with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
We all know why Biden doesn’t hold lengthy press conferences: because he can’t. What we saw on Thursday night has become second nature to him by now.
I’m not a fan of Harris’ politics, so I’ll say this: If elected president, she would be a progressive Democrat and would likely push policies in the opposite direction to what I generally prefer. But Biden’s behavior last week, and how little we’ve seen of him since, confirms that our administration is full of Edith Wilsons. Biden is no longer mentally or physically capable of carrying out the duties of his job. Harris can. For that fact alone, she should be sworn in as soon as possible.
A braver Democrat would acknowledge Biden’s undeniable facts, nominate Harris as his candidate, and have him choose a bland, likeable Democrat like Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado or Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania as his running mate. Is that a surefire way to beat Trump in November? No. But Democrats are running out of good options. Nominating Harris is the least bad option.
