Harris Edges Pence As Presidential Prospect

Voters put a lot more weight on the latest vice presidential debate compared to earlier election cycles and give Democrat Kamala Harris the edge over Republican Mike Pence as presidential material.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for Harris if both major party presidential nominees dropped out of the race. Forty-five percent (45%) would choose Vice President Pence instead. But it’s important to note that this survey was taken before last night’s vice presidential debate. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

Four years ago, Pence beat Democrat vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine 41% to 35% when voters were given the presidential option.

Eighty-five percent (85%) of voters said they were likely to watch this week’s vice presidential debate, with 64% who were Very Likely to do so. This compares to 78% and 54% respectively in 2016.

Seventy percent (70%) said the performance of the vice presidential candidates in the debate is important to their vote, including 37% who said it’s Very Important. This compares to 27% who rated the performances at the 2016 vice presidential debate as Very Important. Just 18% said that of the debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan in 2012, but 34% felt that way about the VP debate between Biden and Sarah Palin in 2008. 

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted October 6-7, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

President Trump’s debate performance followed by his coronavirus diagnosis appear to be digging an even deeper hole for him this week. Democrat Joe Biden now has a 12-point lead over the president in Rasmussen Reports’ weekly White House Watch survey. 

Women were more likely to watch the debate than men and more supportive of Harris.

Middle-aged voters place the least importance on the vice presidential debate but are the strongest supporters of Harris for president if the presidential nominees dropped out.

Harris has the support of 76% of Democrats and leads among voters not affiliated with either major party by 10 points. Pence also has 76% support among voters in his party.

Blacks were the least likely to watch the VP debate, but whites were the ones who attached the least importance to it. Harris leads among whites and blacks but trails Pence among other minority voters.

When Biden announced Harris as his running mate in August, 49% of all voters had a favorable opinion of her; 44% did not. Twenty-four percent (24%) said Biden’s choice made them more likely to vote for the Democratic ticket.

Just 20% of voters think Pence would make a better president than Trump, but 43% say he would be a better chief executive than Hillary Clinton.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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