When Kamala Harris became the vice president of the United States in 2021, many thought that the American jurist could also be the successor to Joe Biden – even during her first term, in case Biden was unable to to continue his duties due to age.

But then two things happened: Harris didn’t particularly impress as vice president, while Biden was so charmed by his work that he decided to run again.

After the disastrous appearance of the president in the televised debate with the Republican candidate Donald Trump, many doubt whether the 81-year-old is really the right candidate. And so Harris is back in the spotlight.

The firsts of Kamala Harris

Harris is the first woman, the first black, and the first Asian-American to be sworn in as vice president of the United States. Her father had come as an immigrant from Jamaica to study economics, while her mother, a doctor and political activist, was originally from India.

Harris, 59, was also San Francisco’s first black district attorney, and in 2010 she became the first female attorney general of California, the state where she was born. In 2017 he was also elected to the Senate.

Her next target is the White House – in 2020 she also wanted to run for the presidency, but already before the primaries she decided to withdraw from the race, as she had little chance of success.

A somewhat… unpopular vice president

As Biden’s number 2, Harris failed to “build” her popularity. Today in the opinion polls her popularity fluctuates in correspondingly bad percentages with that of Biden.

And there are many reasons for that. Biden put her in charge of an unpopular issue, immigration. In June 2021, Harris was criticized for the fact that, although vice president, she had never been to the southern border with Mexico. Her answer: “I’ve never even been to Europe.” Statements like this didn’t do much to endear Harris. The bad tongues even say that with immigration, Biden deliberately “passed” her an unresolved issue.

In the following years, Harris tried to position herself on other issues in order to gain points in public opinion. After the end of federal abortion rights, Harris sought to present herself as a champion of women’s rights — and managed to improve her popularity at least a little. Despite all that, she never managed to become really popular, while the criticism towards her person sometimes takes on a racist or sexist tone.

However, her name is not the only one in the discussions about Biden’s possible successor, but it is also not the first to be heard. California Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer are seen as favorites.

Would he do better than Biden?

In a recent poll on behalf of CNN, about 3/4 of the polled voters said that the Democrats have a better chance of winning the election if someone other than Biden is nominated.

In the scenario of Harris facing off against Trump, the vice president appears to fare a few percentage points better than Biden — 45% of respondents would support Harris and 47% would support Trump. Unlike Biden (who has 43% in the same poll to Trump’s 49%), Harris’ result is at least within the margin of error.

Other polls show that Harris is getting a better percentage than Biden, especially among the important voting groups of African Americans and women. And so the voices in the ranks of the Democrats who see Harris as a favorite in the debate for an alternative candidate to Biden, as reported by the American media, are getting stronger behind the scenes.

What does she advocate for Harris?

There are also practical reasons why many decide to support Harris. Unlike Whitmer and Newsom, Harris is known across the country because of her position. In addition, if the lottery does not fall to Harris, then there will be many questions about what happened to the millions that Biden and Harris received in donations. It is still open, however, whether this money could simply be given to another candidate. Harris also has experience at an international level – having traveled to Switzerland for the Ukraine peace summit, for example, and to Munich for the Security Conference. If Biden does ultimately decide to retire, Democrats will have to show unity at this historic juncture — and not split over who will succeed him.

As vice president, Harris is Biden’s natural successor. Besides, what kind of impression would the party make if it decided to just ditch the first black vice president? What is certain is that something like this would cause intense dissatisfaction among African Americans, but also among people of color in general – in other words, among all non-white Americans.

But at the same time, as mentioned above, Harris did not impress during her tenure as vice president. That’s why it’s not at all certain that the party will rally behind Harris in the event of Biden’s departure – already during the election campaign, before even the pandemonium in the televised debate, there were several Democrats who considered Harris even a political burden .

It will be of pivotal importance that Biden supports her. In an interview after the debate, Harris had to defend the president’s performance: “Yes, the beginning was bad, but the end was strong,” she said. Perhaps the same will happen in her case.