Kamala Harris has suffered a blow in a poll that looked at how alternative Democratic candidates would do in swing states.
There have been calls for U.S. President Joe Biden to be replaced as the Democratic candidate since the world watched his poor performance in his debate with Donald Trump on June 27. Many have assumed the vice president would be the obvious choice, but a new poll shows she doesn't fare as well as others, and she wasn't among the four who performed best.
Analytics company BlueLabs carried out research to determine who would increase the number of people voting for the Democrats in seven battleground states – Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. It interviewed more than 15,000 voters across the states from July 5-12.
The results, published in a draft by Politico on Tuesday, showed all of the alternative candidates ahead of Biden, including Harris. The four who performed best, outpacing Biden by roughly 5 points, were U.S. Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Those who participated in the poll were randomly assigned 11 options for president, including Biden, and given arguments in support of those potential candidates – to "mimic their likely campaign argument."
Newsweek has contacted BlueLabs to ask for the study's margin of error. It also contacted Harris via email for comment.
On average, alternative Democratic candidates were ahead of Biden by 3 points – although Harris' results were lower than that.
"Voters are looking for a fresh face," the study said in its findings. "Those more closely tied to the current administration perform relatively worse than other tested candidates."
It also found that an average of nearly 3 percent of voters in a Trump/Biden matchup switched to voting Democrat when an alternative candidate was offered. Biden has repeatedly insisted that he believes he is the best option to beat Trump and that he will not leave the race.
It comes amid controversy over Democrats' plan to move forward with the confirmation of Biden as their nominee through a virtual roll call vote ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.
Democrats made the announcement in May, with the early nomination said to be so that Biden would qualify for the ballot in Ohio, which had an August 7 deadline. Lawmakers have since passed legislation to push the deadline to the end of August, but it does not take effect until September 1.
A letter circulating among House Democrats says it would be "a terrible idea" to stifle debate about the party's nominee with the early roll call vote.
"It could deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats—from delegates, volunteers, grassroots organizers and donors to ordinary voters—at the worst possible time," says the letter, which has not yet been sent to the DNC.
Details from the letter were first reported by the Times. The Associated Press and Axios also obtained the letter.
No formal date for the roll call has been set, and virtual activity can't begin until after Sunday, when the DNC's convention committee is set to meet.
Biden's deputy campaign manager, Quentin Fulks, said on Tuesday that the virtual roll call was still necessary because lawmakers in Ohio's GOP-controlled legislature could still choose to go back and change the deadline to deny Biden ballot access.
"It is our obligation as a campaign to make sure that President Biden is on the ballot," Fulks said, according to AP.
Newsweek has contacted the Biden campaign via email for comment.
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Jordan King is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on human interest-stories in Africa and the ... Read more
