Nearly half of Americans have a negative view of Kamala Harris and only 32% of them have a positive opinion of the US vice president, a new poll by the US' NBC News broadcaster has revealed.
The survey showed that 49% of respondents are critical of Harris, of which 39% have a "very negative view" with respect to the 58-year-old politician. Only 11% said they have a “very positive” opinion of Harris.
She received a net negative rating of -17, which NBC News said is "the lowest for any vice president in the poll’s history."
The poll was carried out from June 16 to June 20 with a total of 1,000 respondents participating in the survey. The poll’s margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.
For comparison, Harris predecessor Mike Pence’s ratings sat at 34% positive vs. 38% negative (-4%) in October 2019. Views of Joe Biden were at 34% positive to 33% negative (+1%) when he was Barack Obama’s vice president in December 2010, while then-US Vice President Dick Cheney checked in at 47% positive and 24% negative (+23%) in May 2003.
Earlier this year, media reports quoted an unnamed White House official as saying that US President Joe Biden is reportedly growing increasingly annoyed that his second-in-command, who allegedly refuses to take on more responsibility over a fear of potentially “messing up.”
“A point of tension in their relationship is that I don’t think that the president sees her as somebody who takes anything off of his plate” due to a “fear of messing up,” the official said.
The US vice president, who adheres to a hawkish stance on the Ukraine conflict and calls for more hefty military packages, has in particular repeatedly been criticized for sitting on her hands when it comes to tackling the US migration crisis.