One good thing for Vice President Kamala Harris is that her disapproval ratings are not as high as President Biden’s. A recent poll tracker, FiveThirtyEight, found that her approval rating is 36.7 percent, while 51.9 percent of Americans disapproved of her. Biden’s approval rating was 39.4 percent with 55.9 percent of Americans disapproving of the president’s leadership.
These numbers arrived on February 18, two days after Harris experienced an uptick following her speech at the Munich Security Conference and shoring up both her visibility and global savvy.
“It is in the fundamental interest of the American people for the United States to fulfill our longstanding role of global leadership,” she said. She lent her voice to the president’s in countering Trump’s promise to encourage Russia to attack NATO members who were delinquent in their payments.
Harris’s trip also occurs at a time when the GOP is doing all it can to hold up funding for Ukraine and Israel. She addressed these points in her speech and later at a press conference, noting that it has been nearly two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. “Many thought Kyiv would fall within a day,” she said, adding that Ukraine had regained more than half of its territory.
Her good news, though, arrived almost simultaneously with reports that Avdiivka, a longtime Ukraine stronghold, had fallen to the Russians. On Saturday, Ukraine ordered a complete withdrawal as the Russian military marched on the city.
Harris echoed Biden in asserting that Putin and Russia are responsible for the recent death of dissident Alexei Navalny. “Let us be clear: Russia is responsible and it’s a further sign of Putin’s brutality,” she said.
Some are suggesting that by flexing her political muscle, Harris is ready to step into the presidential race if Biden bows out. But critics contend she is not prepared to deal with the insults and bombast of Trump. That’s mere speculation, as is the possibility of her replacing Biden.