Pollster Nate Silver, in a podcast posted to YouTube on Wednesday, described Vice President Kamala Harris as “mediocre at best” and said she would likely lose to former President Donald Trump in the next presidential election if she succeeds President Joe Biden.
Many Americans, including Trump, have speculated that Harris could take or should take the top spot on the Democratic ticket following her disastrous defeat to Biden in the June debate.Risky BusinessThe podcast host said Harris may be a lackluster politician, but is preferable to Biden because she is mentally competent, but believes she would likely lose in a showdown with Trump. (Related article: Biden lies about no soldiers being killed under his command)
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Prominent pollster says Kamala Harris will be 'mediocre at best' and 'probably lose' to Trump pic.twitter.com/Fikj3KBGpI
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“I mean, you could consider Kamala Harris a mediocre politician at best, and I do, and she might not be your favorite, but that's just a weird argument,” Silver said. “Isn't there the ability to say, 'Let's agree that Kamala Harris is the less bad option?' She actually has the ability to build a case against Trump. She's not lying to the American people about whether or not she's fit for the presidency. And while she'll probably lose, Biden will probably lose too.”
“What's a world where Biden wins and Harris doesn't win? I mean, a world where Biden wins is a world where the polls are so far apart that we don't know anything anyway, or Trump goes to jail, or whatever,” he continued. “And in that situation, any Democrat can win. Any halfway competent Democrat. You're probably not going to get much more than a halfway competent option.”
CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said Monday that if you're a Democratic donor, you're “going to bet” on Harris because she has more support than Biden among independents.
“I'm not going to make a medical diagnosis, but you can't predict, 'Our campaign is just going to be stable, competent, and there won't be any more disruptions.' That's already pretty clear,” Silver added. “It's too late now. They're trying to sell a lie…If we're being honest, we elected this woman to be our vice president, she's been our vice president for three and a half years, she could be president at any time. Joe Biden could have a heart attack. There could be some kind of attack where Joe Biden is. We elected the people, we elected Kamala Harris to be our vice president, and clearly she is in a better position to be president than Biden for the next four years.”
Trump leads Harris in a head-to-head race, 45.6% to 43.9%. according to Average of recent polls compiled by The Hill. Recent Reuters/Ipsos vote A poll released in early July showed Harris and Trump neck and neck, with 43% of voters backing the former president and 42% backing the vice president.
“What does it say about her? What does it mean about how cynical this decision was? Maybe it was because they picked her in the summer of 2020, during a time of so-called racial injustice? But she was a senator and district attorney for California, right? I think she's someone who is generally considered very smart and competent,” Silver continued. “The issue is mainly the fact that she wasn't a very attractive candidate politically, although there may be some upside. But what does it say about Kamala Harris that no one trusts her? If I were her, I'd say, 'Fuck this motherfucker.'”
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