Republicans are worried that, if Biden drops (or is pushed) out of the race, candidates more appealing to voters will step in to fill the vacancy. Their big worry is that Michelle Obama—who, thanks to a slobbering media, is popular in ways that neither her accomplishments nor her personality justify—will be pushed to run. Alternatively, Gavin Newsom is chomping at the bit, and the media could push him over the top despite California’s ongoing decline. But when asked, the most popular Democrats behind Biden are Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.

The Harvard-Harris poll was taken from November 15-16 and queried 2,851 registered voters. The overall results are interesting. 58% of people think the country is on the wrong track, as opposed to only 35% who think it’s on the right track. There’s the usual immutable partisan split, of course, but what’s important is that only 23% of Independents think the country is on the right track.

The numbers are almost identical regarding whether the economy is on the right or wrong track. However, almost one out of every two people polled say that their personal financial situation is worsening. Those numbers have improved slightly since the peak of Democrat-created inflation, but they’re not good for an incumbent. (Of course, Democrats insist that Americans are just too stupid to know how well they’re doing.) Still, Americans are beginning to feel slightly optimistic (which I hope is because they assume there will be a new administration after November 2024).

Biden, the Democrats, and the Republicans remain under 50% in the public eye. The public dislikes them about equally, although it still dislikes the Republicans just a little bit more. That’s either because the media, although people distrust it, are still effective, or it’s because the public recognizes that most Republicans are feckless people who stand for nothing. (Or maybe it’s a combination of both.)

Image: Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, by Andrea Widburg

When it comes to who’s hot and who’s not, RFK, Jr., a stone-cold leftist who nevertheless got it right on vaccines, has the highest overall favorability in America (52%). However, Donald Trump is a close second at 51%. In fourth place is Joe Biden, who, God alone knows how, comes in at 46%, one point behind Elon Musk. Next in order of favorability are Kamala Harris (45%), Ron DeSantis (44%), Hillary Clinton (44%), and Nikki Haley (43%). Michelle Obama is not on the list, but Gavin Newsom’s overall favorability is 30%, well below Kamala or Hillary.

When it comes to net favorability (subtracting the number of those who dislike a person, whether strongly or weakly, from those who like the person), the winners are RFK, Jr. (25%), Nikki Haley (14%), Bibi Netanyahu (13%), Tim Scott (9%), Vivek Ramaswamy (8%), Mike Johnson (8%), and Donald Trump (7%).

It gets still more interesting when you drill further down. The person with the most passionate devotion from those polled—the coveted “very favorable” view—is Donald Trump, at 30%. Biden comes in next for passion, with 22%, followed by Kamala Harris (21%), Hillary Clinton (19%), Elon Musk (18%), RFK, Jr. (17%), Ron DeSantis (14%), and Nikki Haley (13%), a position she shares with Bibi Netanyahu and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Drilling down still further reveals even more interesting information. Trump inspires the most passion, both pro and con, although the “favorables” (21%) outweigh the “unfavorables” (10%). However, those who hate him (34%) outnumber those who love him (30%). Biden is deeply disliked even more than Trump (36%) but gets a boost from the mush “favorables.” Indeed, the only political figure in America viewed more unfavorably than Joe is his son Hunter, who gets a 37% “very unfavorable” rating.

Hunter, though, still ranks higher than Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Mahmoud Abbas. Of the small percentage of people who have any idea who these three are, only 8%, 7%, and 7%, respectively, have a “strongly favorable” view of them. On the debit side (for them), Tlaib’s “very unfavorables” are 22%, Omar’s are 23%, and Abbas’s are 15%.

Almost a year away from the election, what I think I’m seeing is a combination of the effects of media bias (which strongly favors Democrats), disinterest, and ignorance. It’s to be hoped that all those factors diminish as the election nears.

However, the most important thing the poll shows is that the Democrats have a problem. While the Republicans currently have multiple people who show up well if you can ignore Trump’s overwhelming presence, the Democrats do not. Because Biden is the incumbent, no one can really run against him. Also, because of identity politics, there’s a limit to their options: “Female” and “minority” are going to head the list.

And so, at the end of the day, all that voters can come up with are Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. I would never count my chickens before they hatch but, if Michelle cannot be persuaded to leave her luxe life of movie stars and yachts to run, it’s either Biden, the corrupt harridan, or the dumb cackler.