Vice President Kamala Harris may turn out to be the most consequential vice president in modern history in the upcoming 2024 election, as Republicans seek to pair Harris’ unpopularity with President Biden’s old age in their pitch to voters.
Harris is an unpopular vice president. Like her running mate, President Biden, has ridden the low 40s in most approval polls as of late.
In fact, across approval rating polls, Harris hasn’t gone out of the 40s in her approval rating since her first year in office in 2021.
Regardless of her unpopularity, even among Democrats, the consequentiality of Harris’ vice presidency could ultimately determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, according to several strategists and politicians who spoke to Fox News Digital.
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Americans’ negative views of Harris and Biden creates political baggage going into what is expected to be a tough re-election for the presidential pair, and coupled with Biden’s age — he will be 81 on Election Day 2024 — the incumbent ticket will have its fair share of challenges.
Harris has dismissed her unpopularity among her own party as D.C. “political chatter,” but that dismissal couldn’t escape Politico’s report that Democrats are afraid to express concern over Biden’s age ahead of the 2024 election publicly because they fear the vice president as the alternative.
Harris’ unpopularity has been a mainstay since her White House run in 2019, when then-Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii — now an independent — tore into the candidate who would later be Biden’s vice presidential pick on national television.
Gabbard told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that “Kamala Harris is clearly unqualified to be the Commander-in-Chief.”
“This should be a major issue for voters, but the mainstream media will continue to try to cover for her because they don’t want the American people to know the truth,” Gabbard said.
“The Biden Administration has already brought our country to the brink of nuclear war with Russia and the new cold war with China is heating up quickly,” she continued.
“The consequences of President Kamala Harris at the helm would be dangerous and catastrophic for the American people and our nation,” Gabbard added.
Republican strategists said that Harris is a thorn in Biden’s wrinkled paw heading into the next election.
Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe told Fox News Digital that “Kamala Harris hurts Joe Biden.”
“If anything happens to Biden, does anyone want Harris? She is personally unlikable and inarticulate,” Boothe said.
“She dropped out of the 2020 Democrat primary before Iowa,” she continued. “Her own party didn’t want her. She was a diversity, equity, and inclusion hire.”
Former President Trump’s 2020 strategic communications director Marc Lotter told Fox News Digital nobody “votes for the bottom of the ticket.”
“They vote for the names at the top of the ticket,” Lotter said. “However, given the clear decline in President Biden, I would expect additional scrutiny over Vice President Harris, but still, the election will come down to the top of the ticket.”
GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway told Fox News Digital the “first decision Joe Biden made as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020 was one of his worst: tapping Kamala Harris to be his running mate.”
“She is the ‘least improved player’ of the Biden Administration and also the least engaged,” Conway said. “The Vice President’s accomplishments are few, her gaffes many; she suffers from high staff turnover and complaints that she does not put in the work necessary to be second in command.”
“Polls show that most Americans agree,” she continued. “Harris’ approval ratings are even poorer than Biden’s. It’s hard not to wince when she speaks, and even harder not to worry, given that her boss is every minute of 80 years old.”
“No inspiration. No aspiration. No preparation. No way to get Kamala off the re-election ticket, either. Most Democratic candidates did not invite her to campaign with them in 2022. It will be harder to hide her — and Biden — when her name is on the ballot in 2024. She has not been an asset. There is little confidence in her competence. That popular assessment is not racism or sexism. It is eyesight and hearing.”
Conservative columnist Kristin Tate told Fox News Digital “Kamala Harris is one of the most unlikable and uninspiring public figures in modern political history.”
“She was selected as Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020 to check a box, and will serve the same purpose for the Biden campaign in 2024,” Tate said. “Harris herself will not be a selling point for voters.”
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Tate said the “Biden campaign is attempting to woo voters to vote for Biden and Kamala, two politicians with zero charisma, by making the entire election about Donald Trump and the ‘threat to democracy’ posed by the GOP.”
“This is why Biden’s announcement video made no mention of any specific accomplishments that his administration has achieved and focused almost entirely on Trump and the GOP,” Tate added.
Meanwhile, Democrat strategists say the ticket is standing strong on the pair’s record.
Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor Kevin Walling told Fox News Digital the “president and vice president are a strong team.”
“They together won a big victory in 2020 taking out an incumbent administration – something incredibly difficult in American history and are gearing up for a likely rematch that I believe will yield a similar result,” Walling said. “Vice President Harris has been crisscrossing the country in recent months, rallying key bases of support on issues like the end of Roe, spurring economic innovation and touting big bipartisan wins on infrastructure, chips and meaningful gun control.”
“I’ll stick with a Biden-Harris ticket with a proven history of defeating a Trump ticket, in whatever form that will be in 2024,” he added.
Biden and Harris announced their re-election candidacy on Tuesday with an online video titled “Freedom.”
Axios reported on Wednesday that top White House officials are scrambling to rehab Harris’ image and raise her approval ahead of 2024, being unable to dump her for a different candidate without it showing he botched his veep pick.
At his press conference on Wednesday, Biden addressed his age.
“With regard to age, I can’t even say how old I am,” Biden said. “I can’t even say the number I’ve done. It didn’t register with me.”
“But the only thing I can say is that one of the things that people are going to find out, they’re going to see race and they’re going to judge whether or not I have it or don’t have it,” Biden continued.
In the video, Biden echoed his 2020 campaign message of battling for the “soul of our nation,” uniting the country, and supporting the middle class, his campaign said. The video opens with footage of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol protest.
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“Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There’s nothing more important. Nothing more sacred,” Biden said in the video. “That’s been the work of my first term: To fight for our Democracy. This shouldn’t be a red or blue issue.”
He added: “This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election. Because I know America. I know we are good and decent people. And I know we are still a country that believes in honesty and respect, and treating each other with dignity. That we’re a nation where we give hate no safe harbor. And we believe that everyone is equal, and that everyone should be given a fair shot to succeed in this country.”
The announcement came four years to the day that Biden announced his candidacy for the 2020 presidential election, which he eventually won over former President Donald Trump.
Biden’s and Harris’ vow to “finish the job” they started was met with mixed reviews online and with the president’s potential 2024 Republican challengers.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, who recently launched a 2024 presidential exploratory committee, told Fox News Digital that another “term would be a disaster for the American people.”
“Joe Biden and the radical Left’s blueprint to ruin America includes attacking our patriotism, targeting our religious liberties, leaving our border wide open, and wasting trillions of dollars we don’t have,” Scott said.
“My story is only possible in this country, but they are attacking every rung of the ladder that allowed me to climb,” he continued. “Championing what makes America the greatest country on earth is on the line.”
“We need a president who will restore hope, create opportunity, and protect America,” he added. “I have faith in America, and it’s about time the president did too.”
Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard and Hannah Panreck contributed reporting.