Most Americans, including a majority of Democrats, say the Democrat Party should find another presidential candidate besides Vice President Kamala Harris before the 2028 presidential election, a new Rasmussen Reports poll found.
While earlier polling indicated that Democrats still see Harris as their party leader, 57 percent now say they should run a different candidate in 2028. That sentiment is shared by 66 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of unaffiliated voters, and 61 percent of voters overall, the survey found.
“However, Democrats (32 percent) are just somewhat more likely than Republicans (19 percent) or unaffiliated voters (20 percent) to think it would be better for Democrats to have Harris as their candidate again in the next presidential election,” according to the poll report.
When asked about the main reason Harris lost, 45 percent of overall respondents say it was because “the Democratic Party was out of touch with the concerns of most Americans.” Twenty-one percent said she lost because the Biden administration is unpopular, and 18 percent said Harris was a “bad candidate.”
By political affiliation, 40 percent of Democrats said Harris lost because the party is out of touch with the concerns of most Americans, as did 50 percent of GOP voters and 47 percent of unaffiliated voters.
After Harris’s loss to now-President-elect Donald Trump, a few polls have released floating Harris for president in 2028 or pitching her as a California gubernatorial candidate in 2026.
Polling from Echelon Insights in November showed Harris leading her closest potential 2028 Democrat presidential contender by 33 points.
Harris led the field at 41 percent, followed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom at 8 percent, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at 7 percent, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 6 percent, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at 6 percent.
However, 59 percent of poll respondents said they would prefer someone else.
Another poll conducted before the election and released after Harris’s loss floated her as a potential candidate for California governor. Current Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) cannot seek reelection because of term limits.
The poll, which was co-sponsored by the left-leaning Los Angeles Times and the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, shows Harris may benefit from some name recognition in a potentially crowded field.
Out of overall California voters, 33 percent said they are very likely to support her, and 13 percent said they are somewhat likely. Thirty-six percent said they are “not at all likely to support her,” while six percent said they are “not too likely,” and 12 percent were undecided.
Democrats are unsurprisingly more supportive than Republicans of Harris running for governor. Over half (54 percent) of Democrats said they are very likely to support her, and 18 percent said they are somewhat likely, while a whopping 84 percent of Republicans overwhelmingly rejected her potential candidacy. There are nearly twice as many registered Democrats in the state as there are Republicans, state data shows.
The Rasmussen Reports survey was conducted with 1,291 likely voters on December 1-3, 2024. The margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.