Former Vice President Joe Biden
Joe BidenThe Memo: Democrats pitch Biden as the back-to-normal candidate Obama congratulates Biden with formal nomination Jill Biden gives personal portrait of man Joe MOREhis decision to appoint Sen. Kamala Harris
Kamala HarrisSusan Rice: Trump ‘is a liar and the whole world knows it’ Biden compares relationship with Harris with one with Obama: We trust each other Five takeaways from final First Chamber Intel Russia report MORE (D-Calif.) As his running mate led to a substantial ballot box among Black and Latino voters, two new polls suggest.
The polls for the Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information, governed by the African American Research Collaborative (AARC) and Latino decisions, were conducted in half a dozen fighting states in the days surrounding Harris’ August 11th.
“The poll was in the field for almost an equal number of days before and after the announcement of Sen. Kamala Harris as the Democratic vice presidential candidate,” wrote Matt Barreto, founder of Latino Decisions, in a memo first checked by The Hill.
“Look at the sample, it’s balanced before and after Harris’ announcement – there are no more Democrats interviewed, there are no more young people. The data is the same before and after,” Barreto told The Hill. “The only change is that Sen. Harris was named after the ticket, and the data finds great movement toward Biden, beyond the bounds of error, both among Blacks and Latinos.”
“This is real movement, this is not a statistical anomaly,” he added.
Harris is the first woman of color to be nominated as a vice presidential candidate for a major political party. She would be the first female vice president if Democrats win the White House in November.
Among Latino voters, Harris boosted Biden’s lead by almost 6 percentage points, while cutting back on support for President Trump
Donald John TrumpThe Memo: Democrats pitch Biden as the back-to-normal candidate Obama congratulates Biden with formal nomination Jill Biden gives personal portrait of man Joe MORE with 9 percentage points, a net boost of 15 points for Biden.
Before the announcement, 59 percent of Spanish respondents said they would vote or lie to Biden, compared to 26 percent who said the same about Trump.
Following Harris’ announcement, 65 percent of Spanish respondents said they supported Biden, while only 17 percent said they supported Trump.
According to an AARC memo on the recent poll, Biden received an 11-point net boost among Black voters when comparing the before and after numbers.
Harris, who will formally accept her nomination as the Democratic vice presidential candidate on Wednesday night, was consistently the top-ranked Democrat among oddsmakers for choosing Biden’s VP, in part because of her popularity among voters of color and immigrant communities.
Their Senate record and opposition positions against Trump administration officials help explain Harris’ strong level of support among Black voters, according to Henry Fernández, author of the AARC interview.
“In the Senate, Kamala Harris has been very good at addressing the issues that our pollsters are most interested in at present: African discrimination; addressing racial discrimination; the failure of the federal government to protect Americans from coronavirus; “health care; and criminal justice reform. She has made a name for herself and grilled members of the Trump administration at hearings, and that administration is very unpopular with Black voters,” Fernández said in an interview with AARC.
Among Latinos, Harris’ California roots and progressive positions on issues such as immigration and health care are helping explain the trend, Barreto said.
“During her primary career, Harris was quite popular with Latinos. She is well-regarded in California and has been a champion of immigrant rights and working families throughout her career. It does not surprise me that she was well received, but the extent of the leap – about 15 net points in Biden’s favor – was pretty significant, ”he said.
Tom Lopach, CEO of the Voter Participation Center, said the results of the poll on Harris show that the running mate-pick helps to increase voter enthusiasm among Black and Spanish voters in a cycle where involvement has been made more difficult by the pandemic.
“As a group dedicated to helping people vote, it’s exciting to see increased enthusiasm,” Lopach said.
“The specific challenges of this cycle make it harder to break news and connect with voters, so Sen. Harris’ announcement clearly carries more punch,” he added.
The original focus of the interview – on attitudes about voting by mail – found that both Latinos and Black voters wanted to vote by mail as an option, but did not fully trust the process.
“We wanted to have a better understanding of the attitudes of African Americans and Latinos about votes, postal voting, early voting, personal and election day voting,” Lopach said. “Through this research, we’ve learned that talking about voting by mail as a choice available to you is an important way to engage voters.”
A large majority of Latino voters, 85 percent, think people should vote by mail if they want to, but only about half plan to do so.
Among Black respondents, 90 percent said they should not be denied the chance to vote by mail, while 87 percent want more information about that choice. Only half said they would prefer to vote by mail.
The survey of African-Americans was conducted among 1,310 respondents, of whom 85 percent are registered voters and the rest are eligible, but not yet registered, in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. The error margin for the full sample was 2.7 percentage points, and 6.6 percent for each state.
The Hispanics poll was conducted among 1,552 respondents, including 85 percent of registered voters, in Arizona, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. The margin of error was 2.5 percent and 6.6 percent in each state.
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