Kamala Harris Is a Stronger Candidate Than Biden

Matthew Yglesias: “The reality is that over the past few months, she has managed to improve her numbers, while Biden’s have only gotten worse. She polls better than Biden in matchups against Trump. And what’s more, at this point, Biden is almost surely dragging her down since she needs to vouch for him as a candidate. But more to the point, she’s a candidate with dramatically more upside than Biden. Like anyone, she has political vulnerabilities. But it’s not hard to sketch out a strategy to address those vulnerabilities, while it’s extremely hard for Biden to address his.”

“Most of all, though, whether or not she’s the optimal candidate, she’s a politician who would be capable, not only of dramatically outworking Biden, but dramatically outworking Trump. Harris could be doing large numbers of brief, reasonably friendly media appearances where she does what any normal politician could do: deliver crisp, clear versions of Democratic Party talking points about how Trump is a criminal who wants to blow out the deficit with regressive tax cuts and she is a prosecutor who wants to protect abortion rights and make the rich pay their fare share of taxes.”

“There are no guarantees in life, but if you have to choose between two politicians, picking the one who is already more popular and who has a much clearer path to addressing her weak points is a no-brainer.”