It seems like the majority of Americans are not the only ones concerned about Joe Biden’s age and his ability to stay in the Oval Office. His own VP and presumed running mate in 2024, Kamala Harris, recently said that she’s prepared to serve as president “if necessary.”
Asked this past Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation whether she was prepared to serve as commander-in-chief in case Biden became unable to carry out his duties, Harris said: “Yes, I am, if necessary.”
“But Joe Biden is going to be fine,” Harris said. “And let me tell you something: I work with Joe Biden every day.”
Harris, who would become the first woman to serve as US president if Biden could not complete an elected term, went on to tell Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan that it would not be a novel experience for her to make history in such a fashion.
She alluded to how she was the first woman elected as district attorney of San Francisco and as attorney general of California. As a US senator for California, “I represented one in eight Americans” before becoming the country’s first-ever female vice president.
“Listen, this is not new,” Harris said. “There’s nothing new about that.”
Harris’s defense of her qualifications and of Biden’s vitality come as Republicans attack the incumbent 80-year-old Democratic President’s age. If he wins another term during the 2024 election, Biden – already the oldest President ever – would be 86 upon leaving office.
Public opinion polling shows that more than two-thirds of the American public thinks Biden is too old to effectively serve a second term. And, seizing on those findings, Republicans have sought to portray the prospect of Harris being one heartbeat away from the presidency as a scary prospect.
“I pray every night for Joe Biden’s good health – not only because he’s our president, but because of who our vice-president is,” Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie said in a clip played by Brennan on Sunday.
Brennan played another clip in which Christie’s fellow Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis insulted Harris as Biden’s “impeachment insurance.”
“People know if she were president – Katy, bar the door,” DeSantis said on the clip, invoking an American colloquialism meaning that there’s trouble incoming. “As bad as Biden did, it would get worse.”
Worst Vice President Ever?
Meanwhile, despite her confidence that “she is ready” to be POTUS, many Americans believe that Harris is the worst Vice President to ever hold the office, or at least in recent memory. According to a new Rasmussen poll, when likely voters were asked whether Kamala Harris was performing better or worse than previous vice presidents, the results were strikingly unfavorable.
A significant 50% of respondents deemed her performance worse, while only 22% saw an improvement, and 24% perceived no difference.