Polls Don’t Match Dem ‘Hope’ That Harris Will Do Better Than Biden Against Trump, NBC’s Kornacki Explains

The sentiment among Democrats that Vice President Kamala Harris would fare better in the election against former President Donald Trump than President Joe Biden is not borne out by the data, NBC News National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki said on Monday.

Kornacki explained how an average of polls over the past few weeks showed Trump — the 2024 GOP presidential nominee — with 47% and Harris with 46% in a head-to-head matchup while the same polls showed it was 47% for Trump and 45% for Biden.

“I think it underscores for Democrats, they view this move as something that’s going to improve their chances in the general election. That is based more on hope than it is on the numbers right now,” Kornacki said.

NBC's Kornacki: Idea That Kamala Harris Will Do Better Than Biden Is "Based More On Hope" Than Any Numbershttps://t.co/vkeO04Cr7g

"She has not really been tested. Her name never got to a primary ballot in 2020. She dropped out a couple of months before that." pic.twitter.com/ubt6eM1gfm

— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) July 22, 2024

Biden, 81, bowed out of the presidential race on Sunday as a growing number of fellow Democrats pressured him to step aide after his fumbling debate performance late last month spurred widespread unease about his apparent decline and electability.

Harris got endorsed by Biden and is, at the moment, the only declared candidate running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. She has a great deal of support from fellow Democrats, but not everyone has backed her nascent campaign so far.

Kornacki said there is not “much of a difference” when it comes to public opinion. Biden had “very bad numbers” with 36% favorable and 57% unfavorable in an average of polls over the last month, while Harris got 38% favorable and 52% unfavorable.

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By comparison, Kornacki continued, Trump’s numbers sat at 41% favorable and 55% unfavorable. “All three of these figures with majorities of voters saying that are unfavorably impressed by them,” Kornacki added.

Democrats “think Harris being reintroduced as a presidential candidate, getting a different look, they think these numbers can improve for her, both in the favorables and in the horse race against Trump. But we don’t know. She has not really been tested,” Kornacki said.

“Her name never got to a primary ballot in 2020. She dropped out a couple of months before that,” he went on. “So, see how it goes over. Democrats hope these numbers will improve. There’s also a possibility they don’t. There’s also a possibility this rollout does not go well.”