It’s hard to imagine Joe Biden being in a more precarious situation than he is now. His approval ratings are in the toilet, voters blame him for the economy, and a bipartisan majority of voters think he’s too old and not mentally competent enough to be president.
The latter point creates added drag on his 2024 presidential campaign because his candidacy is increasingly seen as a Trojan Horse for his running mate, Kamala Harris, to take over. “A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris,” is the common refrain, and you better believe it’s effective. Kamala Harris is the most unpopular vice president in the history of modern polling, and she brings nothing to the table, save for being a minority woman.
As questions arise as to whether Joe Biden will ultimately be the DNC nominee in 2024, Democrats are now about to go full throttle defending him from impeachment. And make no mistake about it: if Joe Biden was going to drop out, he wouldn’t do it in the middle of an impeachment inquiry. It may very well be that Democrats are stuck with Joe Biden, which has given rise (once again) to the “Dump Kamala” movement.
Talk of Kamala Harris being ditched in 2024 has been going on for a while, and now that talk is heating up again.
“Several columnists have an idea on how to make President Joe Biden more electable in 2024: Drop Vice President Kamala Harris and pick a new running mate,” reports Politico. “Yes, voters think Biden may be too old to serve another four years, according to recent polls, but three columnists believe that a stronger running mate will gain traction in the country or even in the party.”
One of the columnists mentioned is Eric Levitz of New York Magazine Intelligencer, who suggests that Gov. Gretchen (D-Mich.), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) or Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) are potential alternatives.
Flashback: Everyone Realizes That Kamala Harris Is a Problem for Biden
Such speculation isn’t just for the amusement of journalists, either. There were rumors that Biden wanted to replace Kamala Harris before he launched 2024 campaign. Some even predicted he would nominate her to the Supreme Court just to get rid of her. The seriousness of the rumors and the harsh reality that she is a drag on the already weak ticket even resulted in her being confronted about those rumors in an interview.
But getting rid of Kamala Harris was never a viable option for Joe Biden. Perhaps he never should have picked her in the first place, but she nevertheless boasts the distinction of being the first minority and female vice president in American history. Sure, she’s awful, but for a presidency that has been obsessed with the symbolism of nominating the first female and/or minority to various positions in his administration, it’s impossible to see how dumping Kamala Harris wouldn’t backfire on Joe Biden — who is already struggling to maintain support from minorities. Sure, nobody likes her, but how can Joe Biden get rid of “the first woman and minority vice president” in history and get away with it? Even if he replaced her with another woman or a minority, it wouldn’t make up for the insult — much in the same way that Barack Obama was practically untouchable during his time in the White House.
So, yeah, while it appears that that ditching Kamala makes sense and might boost Biden, the reality is, it has as much, if not more, potential to backfire.