Poll: Harris better prepped than Pence to be president
Voters believe U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris would be more ready to assume the presidency if needed than Vice President Mike Pence, a new Franklin Pierce University-Boston Herald poll shows on the eve of a highstakes vice presidential debate.
The running mates’ ability to step up and lead is proving more consequential than usual for voters faced with two septuagenarian major party presidential candidates.
Pence, 61, is already a heartbeat away from the presidency as the No. 2 to Trump, 74, whose health is uncertain as he battles COVID-19. And Harris, 55, is facing scrutiny as the running mate to Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who, at 77, would be the oldest person ever to become president, a title currently held by Trump himself .
Nearly 45% of voters in the FPU-Herald poll say Harris, the California senator who was tapped for the Democratic ticket in August after her own presidential bid failed, would be more ready to take over as commander in chief.
Forty percent of voters believed Pence would be more up to the task, while nearly 10% said neither could handle the job.
The nationwide cellphone, landline and online poll of 1,003 registered, likely general election voters was conducted by Global Marketing Research Services for the Herald and Franklin Pierce from Sept. 30 through Oct. 4 and had a margin of error of +/3.1%. Pence led Harris 43.1% to 41.8% among the 38% of respondents surveyed prior to Trump’s announcement early Friday morning that he had tested positive for the novel virus. Afterward, belief in Harris’s ability to do the job climbed to 46.8%, while Pence’s fell to 38.5%.
The poll comes as Harris and Pence prepare to do battle on the debate stage at 9 p.m. Wednesday in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“There’s been some good theater in vice presidential debates, but this is actually important,” Democratic strategist Scott Ferson said. “You’re looking at two people who are most definitely going to be running for president in four years, and might have to step up sooner.”
Wednesday night’s debate is also likely to be more substantive than the opening round between Trump and Biden last week that descended into crosstalk chaos.
“This debate may be the clearest example voters get of a rational discussion between both tickets,” former Mitt Romney aide and Republican strategist Ryan Williams said. “This will be a debate between two far more traditional politicians who will likely both observe the rules of decorum and have a substantive debate on the vast differences in each ticket’s policies.”