Nearly half of voters believe Harris is good VP pick

Washington, DC, August 13, 2020

Forty-seven percent of registered voters say Joe Biden made an excellent or good choice in picking Kamala Harris to be his running mate, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll. This includes 83% of voters who identify as Democrats. A plurality of voters also associate positive traits, such as trustworthiness and capability to be president, with Harris.

Detailed findings:

1. More voters feel positive toward Biden’s selection of Harris than not.

• Forty-seven percent of registered voters rate Biden’s choice of Harris as excellent or good, including 83% of Democratic voters and 68% of Black voters.
• Forty-two percent of voters believe Harris’ selection reflects favorably on Biden’s ability to make important decisions (27% say it reflects unfavorably).

2. Overall, voters feel more positive toward Harris than Vice President Mike Pence.

• In general, Harris is viewed in a slightly positive light by voters: 37% favorable – 32% unfavorable. Pence’s standing, on the other hand, is negative (33% favorable – 47% unfavorable).

3. Beyond favorability, Harris is also seen as more inspiring, honest, and caring than Pence. A plurality believe she is qualified to become president.

• When asked a series of positive attributes about both Harris and Pence, voters are more likely to say these traits describe Harris well, but not Pence.
• The biggest difference is on whether each are inspiring: 43% say “inspiring” describes Harris well, compared to 31% not well. On the other hand, just 30% describe Pence this way, compared to 53% who disagree.

About the Study

This ABC News/Ipsos Poll was conducted August 11 to August 12, 2020 by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,044 general population adults age 18 or older.with small oversamples among black and Hispanic respondents. A total of 930 registered voters were interviewed. 

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.

The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, party identification, race/ethnicity by gender, race/ethnicity by age, and race/ethnicity by education. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2019 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). Party ID benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls. The weighting categories were as follows:

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59, and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other or 2+ Races Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
• Education (High School graduate or less, Some College, Bachelor and beyond)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• Party ID (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Something else)
• Race/ethnicity (White/Other Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Hispanic) by Gender (Male, Female)
• Race/ethnicity (White/Other Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Hispanic) by Age (18-44, 45+)
• Race/ethnicity (White/Other Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Hispanic) by Education (Some College or less, Bachelor and beyond)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.18. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the sample of registered voters. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.18. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Jackson
Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

About Ipsos

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