Why Are We Questioning Kamala Harris's Electability?

Minutes after President Joe Biden bowed out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket, politicians and pundits began pondering her electability.

With the Democratic National Convention less than three weeks away, it seems many are asking the same question: Will Harris’s identity as a woman of color help or hurt her at the polls in November?

Kelly Dittmar, Rutgers-Camden associate professor of political science and director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics, discusses the reasons behind questions of electability for Harris, a sitting vice president and former U.S. senator from California.

Is America ready to elect a woman president? Has anything changed since Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump in 2016?

I think the bias inherent in the question is that women are less electable. When, in fact, the data points prove otherwise in and since 2016. I don’t think America wasn’t ready because the majority of Americans cast their ballot for the woman candidate in 2016, handing Hillary the popular vote, though she lost the electoral college.

Kamala Harris is poised to win the Democratic nomination. How do you think her presidential campaign differs from Hillary Clinton’s?

The work that Hillary Clinton did as a candidate and first woman to lead a major party ticket for president was to further the expectations of who could win and what a presidential contender looked like, sounded like and what identities and backgrounds they could bring to the office.

She also demonstrated the particular hurdle of running against Donald Trump as a woman candidate. Harris will benefit from having seen and heard and understood what Hillary Clinton did – what worked and what didn’t.

Trump was on the ballot in 2016 and 2020. What is unique about this moment?

The country not only had four years of a Trump presidency, but also another four years of Trump denying the legitimate election of Joe Biden. He tried to mobilize opposition to this administration and, at his worst, worked to undermine democracy. All of this creates a different sense of urgency in 2024 among those who are fearful of a Trump presidency.

Will Kamala Harris’s ethnicity help or hurt her at the polls?

We make assumptions that when you come from historically marginalized groups you automatically have a double disadvantage as a woman while ignoring the ways in which those identities may offer electoral advantages.

A record number of women have run across all levels of office since 2016, including at the gubernatorial level. We have a record number of women who are state executives and women of color who have won in greater numbers in what are majority white districts. That contradicts claims a Black woman couldn’t win the majority white electorate in the United States.

What are advantages and disadvantages Harris faces in this election as a woman of color?

On the negative side, it means folks are going to question Harris’s credentials and qualifications to a degree that is greater than her white male counterparts.

We also talk about the emphasis on style over substance. There is often more focus on women’s appearance, their voice, and their mannerisms than there is with their male counterparts, and less focus on what they are saying and what they’ve done.

On the positive side, look at day one of Harris’s presidential candidacy when 44,000 Black women signed on to a 4-hour strategy call. Almost every night since then there’s been a call organizing women of different racial and ethnic groups.  None of those calls were happening when Joe Biden was at the top of the ticket.

In what ways does Kamala Harris’ identity potentially influence voter mobilization or participation?

While voters don’t typically cast their ballots based on shared identities, they do show historic evidence of being mobilized, energized and sometimes more enthusiastic about backing somebody who shares their lived experiences and might better understand the concerns they have and the hurdles they navigate in the United States.

When you’re mobilized, your turnout is higher and that can absolutely affect the outcome. It’s about turning out voters, and not just about on Election Day. Does it translate to donations that will help the campaign to reach more voters, to volunteers door-knocking, to more people seeking out information about who you are and what you stand for instead of writing off the election as something that doesn’t matter to them?

How motivated are voters by the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade?
Only 8 percent of voters say it is their top issue, but it absolutely can mobilize. Abortion and the efforts to fight back against restrictions on reproductive rights have obviously mobilized pro-choice women across the country.

We’ve seen Joe Biden and now Harris leverage that energy as a point of contrast to a Trump administration and a Republican Party that does not back full reproductive rights. Harris, who has already been the campaign and administration’s primary spokesperson on this issue, can leverage her credentials, her ideologies and her expertise on this issue when appealing to all voters.