Keller @ Large: Is Harris truly unpopular or is that the price of being a female politician?
BOSTON - She's next in line to the presidency. But a new poll shows Vice President Kamala Harris is anything but popular.
In fact, she has one of the worst approval ratings for a VP since polls started measuring that.
Harris got a warm reception from abortion rights supporters in a round of speeches last weekend, a rare bright moment in an otherwise gloomy run as vice president that has produced negative voter ratings surpassed only by the likes of Donald Trump and Mike Pence. What is the problem?
"We talk often at the foundation about something called the imagination barrier," says Amanda Hunter, executive director of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, which studies women in politics. "Sometimes, it can be hard for voters to picture someone who looks, sounds and acts differently from their predecessors in a position of leadership."
And if Harris seems stilted at times, Washington Monthly politics editor Bill Scher says it reflects the awkward spot vice presidents often find themselves in. "'Am I being the uber progressive on Biden's left flank to keep the base energized? Or am I thinking ahead to when I have to run in the general election and be more in the middle?' I don't think she's fully resolved that tension," says Scher.
And Hunter adds Harris's struggle for approval is par for the course for female officeholders. "In our almost 25 years of research, voters don't give women permission to find their niche in executive office; they are really expected to hit the ground running," she says.
What impact could Harris's low ratings have on the Biden re-election campaign?
Vice presidential candidates never wind up having much impact on the outcome. Think of Dan Quayle in 1988, who inadvertently did his best to damage George Bush the elder and failed.
And keep in mind, Harris serves an important purpose, helping Biden keep his hold on the black vote - where she continues to enjoy majority support. Maybe her high-profile on abortion rights will help restore her standing among women, but in the most recent polling, she's even underwater with them.