A new poll shows Americans are about evenly split between enthusiastic and worried about Vice President Harris’ choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Democrat) as her running mate.
According to a YouGov survey, Released Tuesday nightAccording to the poll, 35% of Americans think Walz is a “good” or “best” choice to run for president against Harris, while 35% are unsure. Just 16% say the Minnesota governor is a “bad” or “worst” choice.
Enthusiasm was higher among Democrats, with 61% saying Walz was a good or best choice, while just 2% disapproved. Just over a quarter of independents (29%) said Waltz was a good or best choice, while 15% said he was a bad or worst choice, according to the survey.
Republicans had a more negative view of the choice, with 12% saying Walz was a good or best choice and 34% expressing disapproval, according to the poll, but about 40% of Republicans were unsure.
The poll found that nearly half of Americans (45%) said they don’t know enough about Governor Walz to determine whether they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of him. About 35% of respondents said they have at least a “somewhat” favorable view of the governor, while one in five said the opposite.
Walz has emerged in recent days as a dark horse to be Harris’ running mate after gaining national attention for describing former President Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), as “crazy.”
The poll was conducted within hours of Harris announcing that she had chosen Waltz as her running mate to face President Trump in November.
Harris praised Walz’s support for middle-class families and his record of service in the National Guard and as a teacher.
The YouGov poll found that the North Star State’s leader appears to be broadly popular among Democrats. Overall, 58% of Democrats are more likely to have a favorable opinion of the Minnesota governor than an unfavorable one. Pollsters noted that these percentages are roughly the same across Democrats of different ages, genders and regions.
Ms Harris and Ms Waltz have been officially certified as the Democratic nominees for president and vice president, respectively, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) confirmed on Tuesday night.
The move comes after a nearly week-long virtual voting period in which Harris won 99 percent of the delegates who participated, making her the only candidate named after President Biden, who dropped out of the race last month.
Since announcing her candidacy, Harris’ approval ratings have been trending upwards, narrowing the gap with Trump and in some cases even giving her a slight lead.
YouGov’s Daily Question poll was conducted online among 3,003 U.S. adults on Tuesday and has a margin of error of about 2.5 percentage points.
