Kamala Harris' Popularity Compared With Nikki Haley's

As GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley ramps up attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, a new poll reveals that Harris’ approval rating trails Haley’s.

Haley, a former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor who remains the only major challenger to Donald Trump in the GOP nomination race, took on Harris while campaigning in South Carolina last week. She said the race is really between her and Harris because Trump would lose against Biden and then Harris could become president.

“We will have a female president of the United States. But the hard truth is, it’s either gonna be me or Kamala Harris. And you know why? If Donald Trump is the nominee, Joe Biden wins and Kamala Harris becomes president. That’s a fact,” she said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, new polling sheds light on Harris’ and Haley’s popularity.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a rally in Manassas, Virginia, on January 23, while Nikki Haley appears in Concord, New Hampshire, the same day. New polling that compares the two candidates’ favorability ratings shows…

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

A Morning Consult survey found Haley holding an advantage over Harris in her favorability rating. Thirty-three percent of voters said they hold a positive view of Haley, while 40 percent said they have an unfavorable view of her. That equates to a net favorability rating of negative 7.

Meanwhile, 37 percent of respondents said they hold a favorable view of Harris, while 56 hold a negative view of her, resulting in a net favorability rating of negative 19.

Newsweek reached out to the Haley and Biden-Harris campaigns for comment via email.

Robert Y. Shapiro, a professor of political science at Columbia University, told Newsweek that Haley’s favorability advantage is a “benefit of not currently holding public office.”

Harris, he said, is “associated with all the negatives of Biden and his administration” and has not been “part of any breakout positive news” for her work in the administration. For instance, he said, she has been tasked with handling immigration issues, a sore spot for Biden and his administration given the southern border crisis.

“She has been on the road speaking about protecting abortion rights, but that has done no more than preventing her negative rating from dropping further and appeals most to those probably already very supportive of her and Biden,” Shapiro said.

Tammy Vigil, senior associate dean at Boston University’s College of Communication, told Newsweek that Harris’ polling problem is “really about unrealistic expectations.”

“People were eager so see her be a role model and figure of change. However, people were unrealistic about the nature of the vice presidency. That office has been described rather derogatorily, particularly by the people who’ve held it, as mostly inconsequential until it isn’t,” Vigil said.

She noted that while Harris is doing her job “admirably,” her profile being subordinate to Biden has cost her politically, and she should “be more visible” during a campaign.

Meanwhile, Haley’s approval may be influenced by many voters not knowing much about her, he said, and she gets positive marks from independents and some Democrats for her opposition to Trump and her views on foreign policy and abortion.

Notably, the poll found that Harris remains slightly more popular than Biden. Thirty-eight percent of voters gave him positive marks, but 58 percent said they view him unfavorably, giving him a net approval rating of negative 20.

Also, Haley remains less popular than Trump, according to the survey. Forty-six percent of respondents said they hold a positive view of the former president, while 52 percent view him unfavorably. That gives him a net approval rating of negative 6.

Haley’s popularity has suffered both from her connection to and from delayed opposition to Trump, said Vigil. Haley has shown willingness to take on Trump in recent weeks, but some critics have said she waited too long to distinguish herself from Trump. Vigil said this delay may make it difficult for her to build support among some anti-Trump Republicans.

“Haley once had a lot of bipartisan supporters, back before she hitched her political star to Trump. Voters with long memories might struggle with the ‘waffling’ she did to align herself with Trump and distrust her recent professed aversion to him,” she said.

Update 02/05/2024, 7:10 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional comment from Tammy Vigil.