When Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee last month, her twin challenges were to shore up support with the groups where Biden was weak and to maintain his standing with the groups where he was relatively stronger.
As she arrives at the Democratic convention in Chicago this week, a broad array of polls testify to her progress on both tests.
But in the Rustbelt and Sunbelt alike, formidable challenges remain to this emerging “Kamala coalition.” Although Harris has demonstrably regained ground with younger, Black and Latino voters, in most polls she still lags below the levels Biden reached with them in 2020.
It’s far from certain Harris can win any of the major Sunbelt battlegrounds — North Carolina and Georgia in the Southeast, Arizona and Nevada in the Southwest — unless she can come even closer to those previous Democratic benchmarks. And the remaining voters she needs may be tougher to corral than those that have already returned to her.
