The fact-checking organization PolitiFact deemed Vice President Kamala Harris’ statement false when she asserted that certain polls showed significant approval ratings for her.
“Among more than 100 publicly released polls dating to October 2021, none shows Vice President Kamala Harris with approval ratings that outweigh disapproval ratings,” the fact checker noted in support of its rating.
During a July 31 ABC News interview, Vice President Harris drew attention to herself by making a bold assertion to address her declining poll figures.
Reporter Linsey Davis brought up the topic of the vice president’s decreasing poll ratings in the ABC interview.
“There are reports that say that you have the lowest approval rating of any vice president,” Ms. Davis said. “I’m curious, how much role, if any, (do) you feel race and gender play in that?”
The vice president tried to push back against that narrative.
“Well, there are polls that also say I have great approval ratings,” Harris responded. “I think the point that has to be made is that there are attempts to create distractions away from the accomplishments of our administration.”
FiveThirtyEight, a reputable poll aggregation website, reports that Vice President Harris currently has an average approval rating that is 12 points lower than her disapproval rating. This indicates a consistent trend where her disapproval ratings exceed her approval ratings.
To be precise, FiveThirtyEight’s data showcases an average approval rating of 39.7 percent for Harris, while her disapproval rate stands at 52.3 percent, resulting in a net disapproval margin of 12.6 percentage points.
Furthermore, recent surveys funded by diverse media organizations and educational institutions corroborate the results presented by FiveThirtyEight, providing additional proof of Vice President Harris encountering greater disapproval than approval.
Upon reviewing the data, PolitiFact categorized Vice President Kamala Harris’ assertion about her “strong approval ratings” as False. Their evaluation revealed that the available evidence does not substantiate her statement.
Other outlets, including Newsweek, similarly evaluated the Vice President’s claims. Their analysis, in alignment with PolitiFact’s findings, observed that the difference between Harris’ approval and disapproval ratings was smaller than that of President Biden.
Continuous analysis by FiveThirtyEight since October 2021 displays persistently negative approval ratings, pegged at -11.1 as of July 23, 2023. No recent polls affirm the Vice President’s assertion of “great ratings.”
