Ninety-two percent of Americans believe Vice President Kamala Harris was aware of President Joe Biden’s declining health, according to a recent survey.
A YouGov/Times of London poll of 1,170 registered voters was conducted from July 22 to 23 following Biden’s decision to end his reelection bid. The poll’s margin of error is ±3.2 percentage points.
When asked about Harris’s involvement in “covering up Biden’s health,” 68% said “a great deal,” 17% said “somewhat,” 7% said “a little,” 4% said “not at all,” and 4% were “not sure.”
Seventy-eight percent of Republicans, 73% of independents, and 82% of self-identified conservatives believed Harris was heavily involved in covering up Biden’s health issues. Among Democrats, 22% agreed, as did 31% of self-identified liberals and 57% of self-identified moderates.
A super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump took advantage of the allegations against Harris, releasing a new ad that states, “Kamala was in on it. She covered up Joe’s obvious mental decline. Kamala knew Joe couldn’t do the job, so she did it. Look what she got done: a border invasion, runaway inflation, the American dream dead.”
The poll indicates Trump leads Harris by 2 points and is the top candidate on issues like the economy, immigration, foreign policy, and crime. Harris outpaces Trump on abortion and environmental issues.
Carl Bialik, vice president of data science and U.S. politics editor at YouGov, offered a more optimistic view, noting that Harris is “starting out as strong as Biden was,” according to The Times.
“Biden’s withdrawal and Harris’s emergence as the presumptive candidate counterbalance any fallout from events like the TV debate, the assassination attempt, the convention, and the selection of J.D. Vance. Positive events such as the convention and the running-mate nomination might boost a candidate, so we could be seeing these effects neutralized by the shift from Biden to Harris,” he explained.
The poll revealed that 54% of voters think the United States is ready to elect a female president, a decrease from 63% when the same question was posed in 2015, a month after Hillary Clinton announced her presidential run.
“If you compare the current sentiment about a woman president to that of 2015, you would expect progress over nine years. Instead, there’s a noticeable decline in Americans’ belief that the country is ready,” Bialik said. “There’s a prevalent belief that a significant portion of the electorate would oppose a female candidate.”
Only 35% of Democrats polled believe Harris should choose a male running mate, while 6% think she should select a woman.
“There’s a perception that being a woman running for high office is a significant disadvantage,” Bialik stated.
{Matzav.com}