--- title: Kamala Harris' Balancing Act description: While some Biden defenders argue he can't withdraw because Harris would do worse against Trump, interest in the VP is rising canonical: https://time.com/6994583/kamala-harris-doggett-poll/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-07-02T20:38:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T12:55:35.904Z article:section: Politics og:title: Kamala Harris' Balancing Act og:description: Kamala Harris is currently on the toughest tightrope walk in politics og:url: https://time.com/6994583/kamala-harris-doggett-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt956f6facf88f2bc2/698a5861096a9429af6b0adc/GettyImages-2157048119.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: SWITZERLAND-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-DIPLOMACY-PEACE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kamala Harris' Balancing Act twitter:description: Kamala Harris is currently on the toughest tightrope walk in politics twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt956f6facf88f2bc2/698a5861096a9429af6b0adc/GettyImages-2157048119.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kamala Harris' Balancing Act > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: These Are the Biggest Moments From the First 2024 Presidential Debate [Watch (HLS stream): These Are the Biggest Moments From the First 2024 Presidential Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aYKZlt9t.m3u8) (2:59)  _Published 2024-06-28. Awkward exchanges, personal jabs, and falsehoods dominated the CNN Presidential Debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump._  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Jul 2, 2024 8:38 PM UTC  Vice President Kamala Harris sits with her delegation at a Summit on Peace in Ukraine in central Switzerland on June 15, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris sits with her delegation at a Summit on Peace in Ukraine in central Switzerland on June 15, 2024. Dimitar Dilkoff—AFR via Getty Images  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Jul 2, 2024 8:38 PM UTC Vice President Kamala Harris is currently on the toughest tightrope walk in politics. She’s No. 2 behind the country’s oldest leader whose shaky debate performance on Thursday sent Democrats into a panic about whether he can win the election and serve out a second term. Her name and her political future are bonded to the success of Joe Biden’s bid for a second term. Harris has tried in recent days to both forcefully defend Biden’s record and his fitness while at the same time acknowledge his obvious failings in his debate against Donald Trump. Ahead of an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper immediately after the debate, Harris informed Biden’s aides she would veer slightly from talking points she had been given, according to a person familiar with her preparations. She acknowledged Biden got off to a “slow start” and then pivoted to warning about the dangers of electing Donald Trump who has said he would be a dictator on “day one”. Her balancing act was further on display two days later at a Los Angeles fundraiser at the home of movie producer Rob Reiner. Amid a crowd of deep-pocketed liberal donors, many of whom were frustrated with Biden’s struggle to land a compelling message with voters, Harris was blunt. “Our President said it wasn’t his finest hour. We all know it wasn’t,” she said, before launching into a forceful attack on Trump’s threat to democracy and saying that the former President is “still a liar.” “You see how much hasn’t changed?” Harris continued. “So, let’s deal with what we’ve got, right? Let’s deal with what we’ve got.” It was a lukewarm endorsement of her running mate, but reflected the reality of the moment, as Democrats scramble to assure party donors and voters that Biden can still beat Trump in November, even after a shaky 90 minutes on the debate stage. “Harris has been strong post-debate,” says Jim Margolis, a Democratic consultant who has worked with Harris in the past. “She hasn’t tried to bullshit people pretending that what they saw didn’t happen.” As many in the party question whether Biden should remain their nominee, much of the frantic conversations have circled on whether Harris could do better at the top of the ticket. Biden advisors have told Democratic donors in recent days that he remains the best candidate as he beat Trump once already and Harris would not fare as well. It’s an argument that has struck some party insiders as ungracious to the second name on the ticket, and possibly misleading. “These are Biden’s advisors, and they are doing their job to protect Biden and get him over the finish line,” says a Democratic strategist. “While her name is bandied about in not so flattering ways, her popularity is just about where Biden is,” the strategist says. There are signs that Harris’ appeal to voters may even be changing in the wake of the debate. A new CNN/SSRS poll conducted after Thursday’s debate and released Tuesday found that three quarters of voters think the Democratic Party would have a better chance of winning the presidency in November if someone other than Biden was the nominee. The same poll found Harris would do better against Trump than Biden in a hypothetical match up, with 45% of registered voters supporting Harris and 47% supporting Trump, a separation within the poll’s margin of error. So far, few Democrats have openly called for Biden to leave the race. Former Ohio congressman Tim Ryan became one of the first on Tuesday, penning an essay for Newsweek saying that “it’s time” to make Harris the party’s nominee. “We have to rip the band aid off! Too much is at stake,” Ryan wrote on X. Harris “has significantly grown into her job, she will destroy Trump in debate, highlight choice issue, energize our base, bring back young voters and give us generational change.” Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett on Tuesday became the first sitting member of Congress to call on Biden to withdraw, citing the President’s weak poll numbers and debate performance. “President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump,” Doggett said in a statement. “I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not.” One of Biden’s crucial Democratic allies, South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, said on MSNBC Tuesday that he would support Vice President Harris if President Joe Biden were to step aside, an obvious statement for a co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign, but one that took on additional meaning during a week when party leaders are having closed door conversations about the future of Biden’s candidacy. Biden is still on track to become the party’s official nominee in the coming weeks when the Democratic National Committee holds a virtual roll call of delegates ahead of the party’s August convention in Chicago. The roll call vote is intended to ensure Biden’s name will be on ballots in Ohio, a state with an early ballot deadline. But in the coming days, the prospect of Harris taking over the nomination is likely to continue to be a source of quiet conversations throughout the party. ## Transcript If I'm elected, I'm going to restore Ro Wade. So that means he can take the life of the baby in the ninth month and even after birth, because some states, Democrat run, take it after birth. Again, the governor former governor of Virginia, put the baby down then we decide what to do with it. Get the total ban on the total initiative relative to what we're going to do with more border patrol and more asylum officers. President Trump. I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either. Look, Hamas cannot be allowed to be continued. We continue to send our experts and our intelligence people as to how they can get Hamas like we did Bin Laden. But he said the only one who wants to keep going is Hamas. Actually, Israel is the one, and you should let him go and let him finish the job. He doesn't want to do it. He's become like a Palestinian, but they don't like him because he's a very bad Palestinian. He's a weak one. On January 6, we had a great border. Nobody coming through, very few. On January 6, we were energy independent. On January 6, we had the lowest taxes ever. We had the lowest regulations ever. On January 6, we were respected all over the world, all over the world, we were respected. And then he comes in, and we're now left at. We're like, a bunch of stupid people. I said peacefully and patriotically. He encouraged those folks to go up at Capitol Hill, number one. I sat in the dining room off the Oval office. He sat there for 3 hours, 3 hours watching, begging, being begged by his vice president. The only person on this stage is a convicted felon is the man I'm looking at right now. And the fact of the matter is, he is what he's telling you is simply not true. But when he talks about a convicted felon, his son is a convicted felon, at a very high level. His son is convicted. Gonna be convicted probably numerous other times. Should have been convicted before, but his justice department let the statute of limitations lapse on the most important things. How many billions of dollars do you owe in civil penalties for molesting a woman in public, for doing a whole range of things of having sex with a porn star on the night while your wife was pregnant. I mean, what are he talking about? You have the morals of an alley cat. Give you a minute, sir. I didn't have sex with a Porn Star, number one. Number two, that was a case that was started and moved. And, by the way, I told you before, I'm happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it? That's the biggest lie. He's a six handicap of all. I was eight handicap. Yeah. Eight You know how many I've seen you swing. I know you swing. Let's's act like children. President Trump we're going to. Let's not act like children. Pacific. Russia would have never attacked In preside. The question was, will you accept the results of the election, regardless of who wins? Yes or no, please. 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