Vice President Kamala Harris dismissed “chatter” over her political future as President Joe Biden prepares to mount a reelection bid this spring.
Harris’s place as Biden’s running mate in 2024 has come under scrutiny as Democrats raise questions over her political instincts, angst that has grown louder as the octogenarian president nears a likely announcement.
HANDWRINGING OVER HARRIS MASKS WORRIES AGING BIDEN ISN’T UP FOR SECOND TERM
In an interview with MSNBC from the Munich Security Conference, Harris pushed back against the handwringing, arguing that voters care about results, not popularity. Asked why Democrats “don’t think that you are the right person to be on the ticket,” Harris demurred.
“I think that it is very important to focus on the needs of the American people and not political chatter out of Washington, D.C.,” the vice president responded.
Yet despite the Biden administration’s string of legislative successes and Democrats’ better-than-expected performance in the midterm elections last year, Biden and Harris hold low job approval ratings, with the vice president typically faring worse.
52% of voters disapprove of Harris, while 40% approve, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregate.
Harris told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that the administration remains focused on bringing down healthcare costs, unemployment, and growing jobs and manufacturing despite the numbers.
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Biden faces other challenges that are wearing on peoples' budgets, however, including persistent inflation.
While prominent Democrats have rallied behind Biden publicly, new reports suggest concerns over his age and the person poised to succeed him remain. The president would turn 86 at the end of a second term if reelected and could face challenging optics in his reelection campaign if Republicans nominate a candidate decades his junior.