Voters feel Joe Biden may not complete even one term as president, making Kamala Harris the actual nominee
Joe Biden picking Kamala Harris as his pick for the vice president nomination has taken increased significance after a new poll showed that a majority of voters feel he will not complete even one term in the Oval Office.
Biden had announced Harris as his running mate earlier this week, praising her for her work as Attorney General, taking on the "big banks" and protecting women and kids from abuse. The decision made Harris the first person-of-color to be named to a major US party's vice-presidential ticket and will make her the first woman vice president if Biden defeats President Donald Trump in the upcoming elections in November.
While the decision has been praised in many quarters, others have suggested that Harris' pick was made with an eye to the future and that she would, someday, be expected to take the mantle of Commander-in-Chief. However, according to a new Rasmussen poll, that day could come sooner than most expect, with most voters thinking she will be president within the next four years if Biden wins.
The poll, conducted by telephone and online surveys, found that 59 percent of US voters believe it is "likely" that Harris will be president before Biden completes his term, with 39 percent saying it was "very likely". While this view is shared mostly by Republicans (73 percent) and voters not affiliated with either Republicans or Democrats (57 percent), it also includes a significant proportion of Democrats as well (49 percent), indicating that the faith in Biden isn't widespread.
The poll also showed that Democrats (59 percent) attached more importance to Biden's pick of running mate than Republicans (32 percent) and unaffiliated voters (43 percent). Furthermore, 38 percent of voters, including 20% of Democrats, believe Biden, who would be 78 if he takes office in January, is suffering from some form of dementia.
The dementia allegation shouldn't come as a surprise to those who have followed Trump's presidential campaign. He has repeatedly questioned Biden's mental capacity, and recently, released an attack ad where he projected his opponent as a "sorry" figure who was "alone", "hiding" and "diminished" in the basement of his Delaware residence — the 77-year-old former Vice President has run his campaign mostly from within the confines of his home-based studio, with many questioning why he's not willing to go out and rally like Trump.
The ad also claimed that Biden refused to answer questions over his "crazy far-Left ideas", seeing a "massive tax increase", "allowing China and Mexico to steal" US jobs, providing "amnesty to illegal immigrants and letting them compete for American jobs" and more. Following Harris' nomination on the ticket, Trump has targeted her as well.
He called her a "mad woman" and claimed that the tax-and-spend policies of the Democratic ticket would wreak havoc on the economy. He also said the Democrats' environmental agenda would lead to the demolition of the Empire State Building.
"She's radical left. Now she tries to pretend she's not, but she’s the most liberal person in the US Senate," Trump said during an appearance on Fox News Business. "She’s done things that are terrible in terms of the police, in terms of the Second Amendment, in terms of everything else and she is a big taxer as Joe is a big taxer."
He said she is "sort of a mad woman" and slammed her for her famous questioning of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearing. "She was so angry and [showed] so much hatred with Justice Kavanaugh," Trump said said. "I mean, I've never seen anything like it. She was the angriest of the group — and they were all angry. They’re all radical left angry people."