Kamala Harris shakes up the 2024 campaign: VCU community shares thoughts
Richmonders show support for presidential candidates through yard signage. Photos by Anthony Duong and Arrick Wilson. Collage by Victor Romanko.
Jack Glagola, News Editor
Vice President Kamala Harris is now the official Democratic nominee, turning a normally years-long cycle into a three-month sprint to Election Day, when she and running mate Tim Walz will face former President Donald Trump and J.D. Vance at the ballot box.
The turnaround came after a three-week pressure campaign from all corners of the Democratic Party against President Joe Biden, who dropped out 23 days after his debate performance in late June, according to Politico.
Harris first emerged on the national stage when she ran for the Democratic nomination in 2019. She dropped out of the race that December, two months before primary voting began, according to NPR. Joe Biden later selected her as his running mate and she became the country’s first female, Black American and South Asian American vice president.
With Harris now on the ballot, have voters’ attitudes changed?
Ava Blu, a first-year graphic design student, said Harris’ pick of Tim Walz for a running mate was a good decision.
“I think it was smart that Kamala Harris picked him because, unfortunately, she did need to pick a white man,” Blu said.
Leila Stewart, a first-year marketing student, initially thought Biden would drop out due to health reasons and not of his own volition. She said she still plans to vote Democrat, though she would have liked to support an independent candidate.
“I want my vote to matter more, so it would have been him for the lesser of two evils,” Stewart said.
Stewart said she likes the marketing for Harris’ campaign and how it is targeted towards Generation Z voters — who are now mostly of voting age, according to Tufts University. Harris is “lucky” that Gen Z can vote, especially as they have become more politically involved since the beginning of the war in Gaza, she said.
Second-year nursing student Clark Lawson said that while he thought Biden was passionate about his agenda, he did not think Biden would be able to complete a second term.
“I don’t think he had the energy or the vivacity that it takes to maintain the presidency,” Lawson said. “I think he knew that.”
Lawson said he appreciates the Harris campaign’s outreach to the youth.
“Once you get the youth involved, I think that the rest of the country will follow suit because eventually we’ll be the ones taking over,” Lawson said.
Continued discontent over the Biden administration’s support for Israel amid its destructive campaign in Gaza has brought some Arab, Muslim and young voters to vote “uncommitted” in primaries, according to AP News. Some will vote third party or not at all in November, according to Reuters.
Harris has closed the polling deficit Biden had against Trump in battleground states. Amanda Wintersieck, a political science professor at VCU, said that as people get to know a candidate more, their ratings tend to improve.
“We’ve already seen that as this process of learning has happened, her favorability ratings have increased, which makes a great deal of sense,” Wintersieck said.
Despite the polling gains, the election is still “within the margin of error” — there’s a potential difference of 2.1% for the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, which could tip the election either way.
“This election — just like most of our elections in recent history — is going to come down to a couple key states,” Wintersieck said.“We are talking about a few thousand votes to maybe a few hundred thousand votes.”
A new enthusiasm has gripped the nationwide voter base since Harris’ candidacy began, with the campaign embracing pop-culture trends and memes such as “brat” summer. Wintersieck said the two-year nature of campaign cycles leads to fatigue; a shorter campaign offers an opportunity to “return to normal” afterwards.
“Americans are chronically over-voted. We are asked to vote in more elections than any other advanced, industrialized democracy,” Wintersieck said. “It’s really hard to have sustained enthusiasm for a political process when that political process is the norm, instead of a thing that happens occasionally.”
Election Day is on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Eligible voters can register online at elections.virginia.gov.
