Vice President Kamala Harris is a difficult problem for President Joe Biden to solve. Her poll ratings are weak, and her job performance has been a big disappointment to many Democrats . Stories about her lack of preparation and office mismanagement are already legend. Her inability, or, perhaps, refusal, to tackle complex issues when she had the chance, such as border security and immigration reform, has been an embarrassment. 

If Biden runs again, he’ll be 82 soon after the election. His age would make his vice presidential pick that much more important. Even though he’s likely to keep Harris on the ticket, Democratic operatives are increasingly concerned about how voters will react to her remaining a heartbeat away from the presidency for another four years. There’s nothing new about vice presidents being political liabilities, or getting dumped at reelection time. Replacing a running mate, nevertheless, is a delicate matter. 

Aaron Burr, who ran for vice president with Thomas Jefferson in 1800, secretly tried to get the Electoral College to elect him president instead. Four years later, Jefferson barred Burr from the ticket and later ordered his arrest as a traitor.

Abraham Lincoln rarely saw his vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, who oddly served as a guard and company cook during the last part of the Civil War. He was replaced on the ticket in 1864 by Andrew Johnson, who became president when Lincoln was assassinated less than six weeks into the new term.

Ulysses Grant’s first vice president was implicated in a scandal and defeated for renomination. Grover Cleveland ran three times for president, winning twice. In each race, he had a different running mate. 

Franklin Roosevelt’s selection of House Speaker John Nance Garner as vice president was the result of a deal for delegates at the 1932 Democratic convention. Never close to Roosevelt, Garner stayed on the ticket in 1936 but was shown the door in 1940 when Henry Wallace, the agriculture secretary, replaced him.

In 1944, a gravely ill Roosevelt sought a fourth term. Democratic bosses feared that Wallace, a left-wing mystic, would succeed to the presidency if he remained vice president. The wily FDR secretly allowed party leaders to sideline Wallace, throwing open the vice presidential nomination at the convention. The prize went to Sen. Harry Truman. After only 10 weeks as vice president, Truman became president when Roosevelt died.

The last vice president to be excluded from the ticket was Nelson Rockefeller in 1976. When Gerald Ford became president upon Richard Nixon’s resignation, he appointed the former New York governor to fill the second spot. But after a strong challenge from Ronald Reagan in GOP primaries, Ford needed to strengthen his right flank. He couldn’t do it with Rockefeller, a centrist. A hard-bitten realist, Rockefeller understood the game. He graciously offered to withdraw, and Ford accepted.

Would Harris step aside, as Rockefeller did? Would she do it to keep former President Donald Trump or Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) from winning? It’s unlikely. First, her historic role as the nation’s first woman, African American, and Asian American vice president would make doing so more complicated. Second, Harris still wants to be president.

If Biden doesn’t run again, Harris likely will. But if her next presidential campaign is anything like the last one, she’d have an uphill climb. When Harris started her 2020 White House bid, pundits thought she had great potential. After spending $42 million, she dropped out before any votes were cast. Polls showed she lacked support from key constituencies, particularly women and black voters.

Democrats rightly fear that Harris, if she becomes their presidential nominee in 2024, would lose to either Trump or DeSantis. That makes her a problem for both Biden and the party. But at some point, they need to figure out, as the Sound of Music song ponders, "How do you keep a wave upon the sand?"

Ron Faucheux is a nonpartisan political analyst, pollster, and writer. He publishes  LunchtimePolitics.com , a nationwide newsletter on polls and public opinion.