- Kamala Harris charts a path to the White House in 2028 as he backs Biden’s re-election bid this year, reports indicate
- The vice president is performing well in South Carolina, where she has invested in building personal relationships with community leaders
- However, recent national polls show Harris remains largely unpopular with the rest of the country
Kamala Harris is charting a path to the White House in 2028 as he supports Biden’s re-election bid this year, according to reports.
Harris is performing well in South Carolina, where the Democrats’ first recognized presidential primaries will take place on Saturday.
The vice president, who is expected to help boost the Biden ticket among Black and younger voters, has made nine visits to the state with a predominantly African-American primary voting base since taking office.
Prominent South Carolina Democrats are already offering Harris their support for a future presidential bid.
“I made it very clear months ago that I support her,” said Rep. James E. Clyburn told the New York Times.
Kamala Harris charts a path to the White House in 2028 as he backs Biden’s re-election bid this year
Recent national polls show Harris remains largely unpopular with the rest of the country
“That’s why we need to re-elect the ticket. Then you talk about viability afterwards,” he explained.
“There is an unspoken language between the vice president and African-American women in this state,” Trav Robertson, a former chair of the Democratic Party of South Carolina, told the Times.
“They don’t have to go into a room and say things – because they already know they have a shared experience,” he added.
However, recent national polls show Harris remains largely unpopular with the rest of the country.
As of Jan. 19, 53.5 percent of Americans disapproved of the vice president, while only 37.5 percent approved, a poll from the Five Thirty Eight Project found.
Polls conducted by Democratic fundraising giant Emily’s List showed Harris with high approval ratings among key segments of the Democratic coalition, including black women, younger voters and college graduates.
Harris looks to continue playing to her strengths and building on bases where she is already popular, such as in South Carolina
However, last year’s survey showed that it remained relatively unknown to many.
About a third of Democratic and independent voters did not know her personal story, her background as California’s attorney general and junior senator, or what she had done as vice president, the poll found.
Nevertheless, Harris appears to continue to play to her strengths and build on bases where she is already popular, such as in South Carolina.
“In 2020, it was South Carolina that put President Joe Biden and me on the path to the White House,” Harris told a crowd in Orangeburg on Friday.
“It is because of that work that Joe Biden is president of the United States and I am the first woman and the first Black woman to become vice president of the United States,” she said.
“She has built real, connected relationships here, especially in the black community, but also with women and youth,” JA Moore, a Democratic state representative in South Carolina, told the Times.
“Just showing up in certain places goes a long way,” she added.