It seems that Vice President Kamala Harris is tired of being the most unpopular number two since the 1970s and the fallout of Watergate. A recent YouGov/Economist poll showed the demographic group who helped Joe Biden win the controversial 2020 presidential election – ages 18 to 29 – finds the giggling Harris “unfavorable.” Only 36% found her tolerable. So, short of tying a pork chop around her neck to attract the political jackals, what can be done to solve her popularity problem?
Kamala Harris
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Not long ago, a bevy of heavy-hitting females summoned their recently installed vice president to a luncheon to discuss optics. This week, Harris is seeking the expertise of two folks who make communications and long-term planning a walk in the park: Lorraine Voles and Adam Frankel. The former is the gal you call when you are in crisis and need a good rebranding. Frankel is a former presidential speechwriter. They know how to spin the unattractive into something more palatable to the electorate.
But can Voles and Frankel rewind the disastrous nine months of switch-back promises, extreme failure on the U.S. border, and the myriad of cackling responses to essential questions? If so, they might want to kick their challenge into gear, as midterm candidates are declining to appear with the vice president.
Where the Heck Can We Send Her?
Matt Wolking is the communications director for Glenn Youngkin, the Republican hoping to become governor of Virginia. Youngkin is running against Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe of the Democratic Party, who apparently wants his old job back. Evidently, there are some things McAuliffe just isn’t willing to do, though. As Mr. Wolking observed, “For the second time this month, Kamala Harris is doing a public event in Virginia, and Terry McAuliffe is refusing to be seen with her.”
There’s no sending Vice President Harris to Texas, either. The likelihood of hecklers, angry protesters, and maybe even some Haitians who escaped detection ensure bad optics would follow any romp through the Lone Star State.
Have they thought about a campaign junket through the Heartland? The Midwest is not friendly toward a west coast elite with poor manners and a forked tongue. When she stated the area was backward, Harris infuriated the ranks in the Bible Belt. “I don’t think that we should underestimate what that could mean,” she warned, when asked about voter ID laws. “Because in some peoples’ minds, that means, well, you’re going to have to Xerox or photocopy your ID to send it in to prove you are who you say you are. Well, there are a whole lot of people – especially people who live in rural communities – that there’s no Kinkos, there’s no Office Max, near them.” Yep. All those farmers with computer-operated million-dollar farm equipment, hot spot wifi, and remote copier/printer setups aren’t voting for Harris, no matter what.
Heck, even potential immigrants can’t stand the idea of Kamala Harris coming to their aid. After months of campaigning that no people were illegal, she decided they were illegal people. And while searching for the elusive root causes for the border crisis in Guatemala, she was stern: “Do not come. Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our borders.”
Almost every American knows the root cause is on the Swamp's northeast coast, but Harris seems directionally challenged.
Best Get Started
Kamala Harris is unpopular. But she has a myriad of powerful and influential folks coming to her teetering location on the ledge with a rescue plan. Kiki McLean, Adam Frankel, and Lorraine Voles have stellar resumés and success stories. Will Harris be the albatross that drags their reputations downward, or will she be their most significant accomplishment to date?
~ Read more from Sarah Cowgill.
