Donald Trump's claim that Kamala Harris would be easier to beat at the polls than Joe Biden looks set to be tested following the president's withdrawal from the upcoming election.
With Biden dropping out and endorsing his vice president little more than 100 days before November's vote, "it's hard to know what might actually happen in this chaotic, historic presidential election year", said Politico, "to put it mildly".
What did the commentators say? Despite being dogged by stubbornly poor approval ratings as VP, Harris is a "surprisingly strong potential challenger" to Trump, said The Independent. She has established a profile on the world stage, and has led the battle to protect abortion rights at home. She also has a "built-in advantage" in being able to tap into the massive war chest already raised for her and Biden's re-election bid, as well as the campaign's nationwide apparatus.
It won't be smooth sailing, however. Detractors have accused Harris of "taking a mixed-bag approach in her policies". She "has also faced criticism that she has not lived up to expectations" and that she "lacks the charisma" to rally the Democratic Party. Harris' supporters argue that as the first female VP, as well as the first Black and Asian American in the role, the "lens through which her record has been judged is tainted with racism, sexism and rank hypocrisy", said The Telegraph.
Polls have consistently shown Trump beating Harris by a similar margin to Biden, but a recent survey by CNN and SSRS found that Harris outperformed Biden among two voting blocs who will be key in November – women and independent voters.
What next? Pundits predict that if Harris is confirmed as the Democrats' nominee at the party's convention in August, she will pick a governor from one of the key battleground states as her running mate to broaden her appeal.
Her relative youthfulness compared to Trump could also help the 59-year-old VP, and "to some extent, she might help satisfy the electorate's desire for change, simply by being someone other" than him or Biden, said The New York Times. But she will still "need to offer an optimistic and hopeful vision for the future, backed by a plausible agenda". |