A new poll shows that a significant number of Americans are less likely to believe Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim that she worked at McDonald’s while in college.
The Democratic presidential candidate has used her story about serving fries and ice cream at a franchise in Alameda, California, to reinforce the image of humble origins.
But according to a Daily Mail/JL Partners poll, 58 percent of likely American voters expressed some doubt or outright disbelief about the claim.
Thirty-seven percent of voters said they did not believe her claim and 21 percent of voters in the poll said they were “unsure.”
Only 43 percent of likely American voters said they believed Harris’ claim
The survey included 1,003 likely voters and was conducted from October 27 to 29 with a margin of error of three percent.
A new poll shows that a significant number of Americans are less likely to believe Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim that she worked at McDonald’s while in college
Former President Donald Trump campaigned extensively to question Harris’ claim that he worked at the nation’s largest fast-food chain, even showing up at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania to make fries and serve food at the drive-thru window .
“I have now worked 15 more minutes than Kamala at McDonald’s,” Trump told reporters and customers after the campaign event.
In the poll, 49 percent also said Trump’s visit to the fast food restaurant was “staged.” Another 32 percent said his service in a Golden Arches apron was “real” and 19 percent weren’t sure.
Despite Trump’s repeated taunts, Harris remains unable to provide any evidence to support her claim.
The Harris campaign claims that during the summer after her freshman year at Howard University in 1983, Harris worked at a McDonald’s location on Central Avenue in Alameda, California.
The restaurant’s staff are reportedly sworn to secrecy and when DailyMail.com contacted them to ask, an employee replied ‘no, sorry’.
The Harris campaign claims that Harris worked at a McDonald’s during the summer after her freshman year at Howard University in 1983. She is pictured when she was younger.
She is believed to have worked at the Central Avenue location in Alameda, California
The New York Times quoted Wanda Kagan, a close high school friend of Harris who remains active in the campaign, who recalled Harris’ now-deceased mother, who once said Harris worked at a McDonalds.
Despite Trump’s continued tormenting of Harris on the issue, the vice president and her team have no new information to back up her claim.
Experts noted on social media that Harris was able to easily access her government tax records to prove her work at the site.
Social Security keeps records of tax forms for employees working in the United States, ‘from 1978 to present’ according to to the agency’s website.
McDonald’s revealed earlier this summer that it has no data to verify Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim, but praised her “fond memories” of working at the franchise location.
‘[W]e and our franchisees do not have data for all positions dating back to the early 1980s,” the company noted in an internal memo posted online.
Donald Trump, pictured serving fries at Pennsylvania McDonald’s this weekend, has consistently said that Kamala’s story about working at the fast food restaurant is:
Harris first claimed that she used to work at McDonald’s in college when she protested with workers against raising the minimum wage in 2019 as she ran for president.
“I worked at McDonald’s, I was a student when I worked at McDonald’s,” she said on social media that she worked making fries and serving ice cream.
In April 2024, she revisited the topic on the Drew Barrymore show, revealing that she “made fries” at the restaurant and that her regular meal was a quarter pounder with cheese.
“Yes, I worked at McDonalds when I was in school… making fries,” she said. “I did fries and the cashier.”
“I didn’t know that about you!” a surprise Barrymore replied.
Harris briefly repeated her claim when a reporter shouted a question Monday asking if she had ever worked there.
‘Did I do that? Yes, I did,” she said before getting into her car.
The campaign still cannot provide evidence to support the vice president’s claim, such as a photo, a pay stub or a colleague who can confirm her employment.
An employee said, “I’m sorry, I have no information,” when DailyMail.com contacted the location where Harris claims to have worked on Monday to ask if Harris had ever worked at the franchise location.
A copy of her resume she submitted after college contains no information about her job at McDonald’s, according to to the Washington Free Beacon.
The Harris campaign has used her claim about her work at McDonald’s to demonstrate her working-class credentials.
After weeks of deriding Harris’ claim as false, Trump visited a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania on Sunday, put on an apron and made several batches of fries in the kitchen.