Kamala Harris Could Be Running For President In 2024 — But Can She Take On Donald Trump & Ron DeSantis?
She's already made it to the White House, but will she be staying?
Leonard Zhukovsky, NumenaStudios, Evan El-Amin, & Frederic Legrand / Shutterstock With rumors already floating around about the next presidential election cycle, many are curious to see if Kamala Harris, the current Vice President, will make a run for the presidency in 2024.
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, and Donald Trump are both rumored to be running in 2024 for the Republican party. Does Kamala Harris have what it takes to beat them?
Can Kamala Harris win against Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election?
Harris has already made history as the first female vice president and could do the same as the first female president.
But fighting off the cult-like popularity of DeSantis and Trump supporters may be too much for Harris to take on.
RELATED: 13 Things To Know About Kamala Harris's Background, Attitude & Political Stances
Kamala Harris's 2020 presidential campaign was a failure.
Before we talk about the next election cycle, let’s talk about the election cycle that just passed — Kamala’s run during the 2020 election didn’t amount to much.
After she initially announced that she would be running for president in January 2019, she raised a record amount of donations in the first 24 hours of her campaign, tying the record set by Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Election.
That’s about as far as it went, however. She was able to maintain a wide following well into the 2019 year, but it wasn’t enough to reach the commanding candidates like Biden, Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.
On December 3rd, 2019, Kamala Harris dropped from the race months before being chosen as Vice President for Biden’s ticket.
Lack of funding, unorganized campaign management, and lack of popularity were reported to be the causes of her downfall, but as the current Vice President for the next 3 years, she has more than enough time to build a rapport and consider a 2024 run.
Can Harris beat Trump in 2024?
Harris could be lining herself up with a similar story as Hillary Clinton, who has run for president twice in the past — the second time she won the majority vote against Trump but failed to take the electoral vote.
Unlike Clinton, however, the nation is aware of the dangers of having a president like Trump, which DeSantis has often been compared to.
Considering Biden’s win over Trump was very convincing, it’s unlikely that we’ll see another Trump threat.
Hopefully following that trend, the election of DeSantis would be a danger to this country that the Democrats would try their best to avoid.
Can Harris beat DeSantis in 2024?
In a recent Florida poll conducted by St. Pete Polls, DeSantis’ approval rating has gone down significantly following poor response to recent Covid-19 outbreaks in the state — falling from 55% approval to 44%.
This doesn’t hinder his popularity, however. DeSantis is making a name for himself and creating waves, similarly to how Trump did.
With the way the Senate, President, and House all have Democratic majority, the opposition will surely grow and DeSantis will likely continue to maintain his traction as long as he fixes some of his current issues and remains the Governor of Florida.
Harris is suffering from a similar approval rating to DeSantis as the current Vice President — a 45% approval rating, only one point higher than DeSantis, and a 49% disapproval rating, the same as the Florida Governor.
Of course, this is on a national stage as opposed to just one state, but it’s still a dip from her previous ratings.
She’s doing better than Mike Pence, the previous Vice President, but she’s not outpacing Biden’s approval as Vice President during the Obama administration.
Harris's biggest opponent may be sexism.
If Harris were in the race at this moment in time, she would likely see a similar fate as last time, but her Vice Presidency shines a massive spotlight on her potential future.
Behind these numbers lies a ton of factors, like voter turnout, support from different age groups, winning over the moderates, and above all else — gender.
Let’s be real here, probably the biggest issue that Kamala Harris will be facing is the fact that she’s a woman, and we live in a sexist country.
Harris will be struggling with the same issues that Clinton struggled with. Getting people to “Pokemon-Go to the polls”, and fighting the misogyny that plagues the United States.
The complacency of voters who believe that Joe Biden is bringing back an era of democratic rule will likely be a determining factor in the upcoming election.
Part of the reason Biden won the 2020 election is because it held the highest turnout rate in over 100 years.
Similarly, a big reason that Trump beat Clinton in 2016 is because of his voter turnout, and the lack thereof from Clinton's camp — winning the popular vote doesn’t win elections.
If Harris wants to win, she’ll need to win over the hearts of the people through charisma, and strong policies.
As long as she continues to carry herself professionally, and prove that she can do the job with her words and by crunching the numbers, the people who don’t vote for her because she’s a woman won’t matter.
The pressure to reach perfection will lie on the shoulders of a Harris who runs for president, but it isn’t impossible for her to win.
With the country seemingly headed towards a more progressive outlook, Harris would be a good successor to Biden if we as a nation want to keep the trend going.
She has a good head start, but there’s still a lot for her to accomplish over the next few years. Let’s just hope that it’s enough to keep DeSantis and Trump out of the White House.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, and social justice.