Kamala Harris’ Rise in Approval Stuns Pollsters: ‘Amazing’

Vice President Kamala Harris’ approval rating has surged in the past few weeks, according to multiple polls, with one pollster calling her rise “amazing.”

According to an analysis of a recent poll conducted by the website FiveThirtyEight on Aug. 8, Harris had a net favorability rating of -5.5, with 43.2 percent of voters having a favorable view of her and 48.6 percent having an unfavorable view. That was a significant improvement from July 21, the day President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, when Harris had a rating of -14.6.

When Biden ended his reelection bid, he endorsed Harris, who quickly established herself as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in 2024. Harris has outperformed the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, whom Biden has generally trailed, in more than a dozen polls and is currently the favorite to win in November with many leading bookmakers.

Trump has also seen an improvement in his popularity, according to FiveThirtyEight’s latest analysis. On July 21, the website found that 41.4 percent of voters viewed the former president favorably, while 53.8 percent had an unfavorable view, for a net rating of -12.3. The rating rose to -8.4 on August 8, when Trump had a favorable rating of 43.3 percent and an unfavorable rating of 51.7 percent among American voters.

A Marquette Law School poll of 879 registered voters conducted between July 24 and August 1 found that Harris was the preferred presidential candidate of 52 percent of registered voters, compared with 48 percent for Trump. Among likely voters, Harris’ lead was larger, 53 percent to 47 percent. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.

Adam Carlson, a pollster who used to work for consulting firm Global Strategy Group, noted that Harris’ acceptance rate at Marquette Law School was up significantly from a survey the firm conducted in May.

“Harris’ Net Positivity Rating improving from -20 in May to -3 in late July/early August is just unbelievable,” Carlson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Trump’s overall popularity also rose during this period, from -17 to -8 — perhaps due to the assassination attempt and the Republican National Convention.”

On July 13, Trump survived an assassination attempt when a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, leaving the Republican nominee with a wounded right ear and one attendee dead. The shooter was killed by retaliatory fire from law enforcement.

Also on Channel X, Elliott Morris, director of data analytics at ABC News, shared a screenshot from FiveThirtyEight showing a significant improvement in Harris’ popularity since Biden stepped down.

He wrote: “News you can use! 538 now has an updated average favorability rating for Kamala Harris. And wow… what a rise. Harris was 17 points underwater in early July. Now she’s at -9 (tied with Trump) and quickly gaining ground.”

Newsweek reached out to representatives for Harris and the Trump campaign for comment via email.