Kamala Harris

[cupcaske123]

Biden has endorsed Harris to run for president. I don't believe she's very popular but it would be amazing to have a female president.

It’s interesting to me that the US, where women are much better represented in high status jobs than in the UK, still haven’t had a female president and that Harris was the first ever female VP.

Women CEOs, judges, police chiefs (etc) are prevalent in the US, in a way that we are still battling for, but the campaigning against Hilary Clinton was openly misogynistic.

Then there’s all this trad wife stuff and the religious right.

And then there’s the way political men surround themselves, personally and professionally, with skinny blondes in bodycon dresses and stilettos and think it’s funny to insult the appearance of women who don’t comply with that mould.

It’s a more equal society but it’s socially and politically acceptable to be openly sexist. I don’t understand it.

So yeah, I would absolutely love it if Harris was the first female president, but I don’t think it’ll happen, nor any of the other women you mention.

There's evidence Russia was involved?

Yes there was an investigation into the 2016 election which uncovered Russian interference in the form of hacking, social media bots, adverts, rallies, misinformation etc in favour of Trump.

@HeddaGarbled do they really have more women CEO's or that they have a bigger population and bigger industry? If you did CEO per capita or per number of companies for both countries does this hold? I am just interested because indeed it is an interesting phenomenon. But then US has lots of cloaks and daggers especially when it comes to issues to do with equality.

It was all speculation, there was no evidence, although it was presented as fact by sections of the media. Just a smear campaign. It there was any evidence whatsoever or even anything to corroborate the claim it would absolutely plastered all over this campaign by the Democrats. The fact it isn't tells you all you need to know

I think it was a massive own goal, Trump is a big enough bellend to discredit himself. The smear campaign turned him into something of an anti establishment hero for disillusioned voters

Lots of endorsements coming out for Kamala.

I'll be very shocked (in a good way) if she can actually win. I think the Democrats know this so they are going to take the money she comes with and 'glass cliff' her.

No man with presidential ambitions is going to waste his one shot on this messy, almost out of time race and risk losing face to Trump.

I think they'll just use the next four years to raise a lot of money on the back of people hating Trump being president again and regroup for 2028 with a serious, probably white male candidate.

It's a shitty situation of their own making and leads me to conclude the establishment politicians aren't nearly as worried about Trump as they say or as worried as the general public are who have taken on board their words. Their actions surrounding all this don't match their rhetoric about existential threats.

There are plenty of us who will vote blue no matter who, though.

And yes polls say she’s unpopular, but they’ve never polled me, so…

I never expected Biden to last the whole four years of his first term, and truly thought there would be a "medical" reason in Year 3 given for him to step down for Harris to complete his term. But then Trump declared his run...

Woman is the biggest issue.

Yeah too brown for the trumpies and unsure people (I mean let’s face it - if you’re even considering voting Trump you’re not progressive are you). We also need a really popular personality to defeat the messiah.

I think she's great. It's American voters who will worry about her being female and 'too brown', IMO.

Really good to hear this morning that donations are flying into the party since she was put forward, though.

I cannot WAIT to see her verbally pull Trump to pieces if they go head to head in a live!

For those interested, the TRIP US emergency podcast last night is worth checking out. They are pretty frank about the uphill struggle Kamala may face but are overall positive and have lots of good things to say about her.

”Too brown for the Trumpies” is not necessarily true for all of them (though certainly for most) since there are people who voted for Obama and then Trump. More of them than you’d think, which I personally find bizarre, but it is what it is.

There’s an image being shared on Twitter of a cheque donation for $5000 Trump made to Kamala Harris’ reelection campaign in 2011.

I’d love her to turn up to the debate with one of those giant comedy cheques and ask him if he’d like a refund 🤣

Explain then why the democratic possibility that has by far the strongest chance by the pollsters of beating Trump is a black woman - Michelle Obama.

Personality, maybe? Not just that she has a good one, but that she is 'a personality'.

only reason she was biden's pick for vp is that she is a brown woman. she was the worst candidate in dem's primaries and dropped out first.

russian influence has been exaggerated by hillary clinton's staff.
she lost the election because part of the voters were turned off by the behavior of the elite in the democratic party towards bernie sanders, because they were outwitted by kellyanne conway and because they were too confident in the victory that the polls predicted.

That's not necessarily why. Often the people who drop out earlier are chosen over those who drop out later. All sorts of reasons, only one being that the VP is often chosen based on Not being a threat to the POTUS.

If anything, I think there is a problem, especially in US politics, but also in general with the least capable/well qualified succeeding. That isn't necessarily the case for Kamala, I dont actually think it is. But even if it was, it wouldnt mean she got through because she is a brown woman despite not being very good. More likely she got through because she was not very good, despite being a brown woman.

Although actually she seems like the best of a bad bunch.

This

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I think this is a really interesting question, and it's one that I've pondered quite a few times.

I've thought for a while that Kamala Harris might struggle to win an election. Being brown and female absolutely would be a problem for some voters, plus she's perceived as being more left wing than some others. Add to this the fact that she's not shone on key areas like immigration which Biden very kindly handed to her to deal with, and it's not an appealing combination for a certain demographic.

As PP said, it's not about winning over Dem voters because let's face it, no one with that political persuasion is voting for Trump. It's the floating voters, the ones in the middle that she needs to capture. And even better, she needs to capture some of the more moderate, centralist Republicans who aren't best pleased about voting Trump but at the moment still plan on doing so...

Those voters that need to be converted aren't going to be impressed with a brown-skinned female who leans further to the left wing, and in addition has done a poor job on immigration - which many cite as a key issue.

I wonder if part of the reason that Michelle Obama polls so well is that she appeals to conservative family values? I can remember lots of talk about their family dinners. She's got quite a wholesome reputation, none of the sleaze that came with the Clinton name. My understanding is that she's also not a left wing as Kamala. So maybe all of this appeals to centrists, even if they might otherwise have considered voting Republican? Lots of Dems will love Michelle (for many, many reasons) - but her ability to attract floating voters or moderate Republicans is what's interesting to me. I think her emphasis on family and core moral values might be one of the reasons those further to the right might have been willing to consider her.

Obvs we all know that Michelle won't stand but it's interesting to try and unpick why she polls so well because it could help to identify someone who could beat the orange man-child.

I feel sorry for Kamala because with a different Republican candidate, she might have stood a chance. Especially if she had some time to build up a positive public reputation with some better projects. She's clearly a talented woman with potential - I just think maybe now isn't her time. However, I would absolutely LOVE to be wrong.

This has a whiff of Theresa May to me, a woman handed a giant mess/sinking ship made by men, for her to try and clear up, rather than have an opportunity to stand on her own platform

@SpidersAreShitheads

I think you hit the nail on the head - Michelle Obama is so popular because she is more centrist (by US metrics) plus she comes across as a strong principled no nonsense woman.

The problem with the selection of political candidates is that it's generally done by party members who think that they understand what the general public wants. However to take a UK example, if you were to go as far as to become a member of the Conservative party then you would probably be more Conservative than the average person and the same goes for Labour. A classic example is the selection Truss and Corbyn.

What does annoy me though is why the harder left have to see everything through the prism of skin colour. Harris was lower in the polls because she was perceived as too left for the more centrist US voters, it had nothing to do with her skin colour or sex. That said her recent polling has strengthened considerably against Trump who is acting like the presidentcy is in the bag.

@1dayatatime I think that's a very astute assessment of where we are.

I remember voting for Corbyn even though I wasn't a fan of him at all, but I wasn't prepared to vote for the Conservatives. I'm more to the centre than Corbyn, but still very much left of centre. I have friends who are floating voters and are naturally inclined to be right of centre - Boris, Liz et al have pushed them to vote Labour because in their opinion, the Conservatives have moved too far to the right.

I think maybe for Harris is that it's a combination of all of those things you mention - sex, colour, and political leaning. To quote Meatloaf, two out of three ain't bad - but if you've got the full set, then it's an uphill battle. I do think also though that those three features aren't weighted equally - I think the left-leaning politics is the most problematic of the three. Candace Owens is female and black, and she's the darling of the right wing. And look at Bernie - white and male, but too left-leaning to get the candidacy.

I'm always an optimist so I'm cheered by the news that Kamala isn't doing too badly on the polls - and there's a fair chunk of voters in the middle who are in the don't know camp, meaning there's plenty who could yet be converted. I expect Kamala to be picked as the Dems candidate - but she needs some seriously good PR to catch up. Also, imo she needs to go for the jugular with Trump - I saw a campaign video last night and she's making a beeline for him being a sexual predator. She needs to play hardball with him and show everyone how strong she is. I still think it will be a miracle if she beats him but I think Biden didn't stand a chance, and at least she can give it a good go.

@SpidersAreShitheads

Personally I don't think Boris was right of centre, instead I thought of him as an out of his depth opportunist who would back whichever side or belief that advanced him to Number 10. Once there he had no idea or plan what to do next.

Liz Truss on the other hand was just clueless and hopeless and was not up to owning the keys to an allotment shed let alone Number 10.

Why don't you admit that you use the race card whenever someone disagrees with you?

It's not her race. It's her personality, her incompetence and her attitude.