Easton, Pennsylvania
CNN
—
Live to be 94 like Pat Levin, and you might think you’ve seen it all. Well, think again.
“We were thrown into an emotional tailspin,” is how Levin described President Joe Biden’s sudden departure from the 2024 campaign this weekend and his swift endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. “What came next? A huge sense of relief and a huge sense of anxiety.”
Oh, and more of this: “Yes, I support Harris.”
That’s what Democrats concluded in our All Over the Map project, which tracks the 2024 campaign through the eyes and experiences of key voters. We heard relief that the president had stepped down from a campaign that was on the verge of failure, concern that there wasn’t enough time to turn things around, and support for Harris to take over.
“I’ve always said that the vice president should be Harris,” said Angela Lang, a community organizer in Milwaukee’s black neighborhoods. “She’s the first black woman to hold the office and I think it would be disrespectful for someone to pass her.”
Tonya Rincon, an auto worker from Michigan, described herself as “a little stunned” by Biden’s decision but said Democrats have no time to waste.
“Vice President Harris is the obvious choice,” Rincon said. “She is experienced and qualified. She is an extremely strong candidate and we must support her immediately.”
The California Democrat has received overwhelming, but not unanimous, support. The silver lining for Harris: Democratic voters believe she can rebuild Biden’s lagging support in the black community and among younger voters, and they see her as a more dynamic and aggressive campaigner on abortion rights and other issues seen as key motivators for Democratic voters. But the doubts some voters have raised about Harris underscore the challenges ahead, assuming she emerges as the Democratic nominee. They range from concerns that the process will become too complicated to worries that she may not be the strongest candidate to compete in critical swing states.
“If it’s Kamala, her choice for vice president has to be the absolute best,” said Darrell Ann Murphy, a retiree from Northampton County, one of Pennsylvania’s largest.
“I wonder if the country is ready for a black woman as president,” said Walter Robinson Jr., an African-American autoworker. “We didn’t see much of her during her tenure (as vice president), so I’m still processing that whole thing.”
Similarly, Carey Fulks, an African-American from Atlanta, said: “I don’t think Harris is a strong enough candidate to be president this close to the election. … Democrats might rally behind Harris, but I don’t know about the swing voters.”
Harris’ campaign would face the same daunting challenge that led Biden to drop out of the race: Former President Donald Trump is leading in key swing states, at least according to polls conducted before Biden dropped out. The Democratic path to victory runs through Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and leading Democrats in those states say the vice president has a lot to prove. Our project includes voters in 10 states, and several of them who are undecided or at least not firmly committed to a candidate quickly challenged Harris’s nomination as Biden’s replacement.
Allen Naparalla, who runs a winery in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, said Biden waited too long.
“He was just too old to be president,” Naparalla said. “I don’t think Kamala Harris has the qualities to be a competent president.”
Antonio Munoz, a Las Vegas restaurant and catering company owner, texted two words when asked about the change: “Michelle Obama.”
Ray Flores, who owns a handful of restaurants in Tucson, Arizona, was also taken aback by the Democratic changing of the guard.
“Our country is lost,” said Flores, deeply disappointed with both major political parties. “We have serious problems, but they are not being addressed, only the wallets of the very rich and famous are being addressed.”
Kim Cavaliere, a Georgia independent who supported Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020, said she was glad Biden made the decision to step down.
“However, I am not happy that Harris is running,” she said. “Who is this absent vice president?”
And Linda Rooney — a Republican from Media, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, who supported former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the Republican primary — doesn’t have a good impression of Harris either.
“I personally think she did a horrible job as vice president,” Rooney said. She is not a fan of Trump and said she might vote Democratic if her governor, Josh Shapiro, becomes Biden’s replacement.
“If Shapiro were the Democrats’ choice, I would be in a quandary about who to choose in November,” Rooney said.
Shapiro, however, was quick to endorse Harris. The governor of the key state is on Harris’ list of potential running mates.
The same goes for Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, whose name as a possible Harris vice presidential pick also emerged as our voters shared their initial reaction to Biden’s decision.
“Having Mark Kelly at this level would be extremely beneficial for Arizona because he would fight to protect our reproductive rights, veterans’ rights and advocate against the deportation of veterans,” said Melissa Cordero, an Air Force veteran who now works for a conservation group in Tucson. “Let’s continue to push for a ticket that prioritizes these critical issues.”
Kelly, a veteran and former astronaut, was the top choice of Nanette Mees, a registered Republican from the northern Virginia suburbs who tends to vote Democratic for president because of abortion rights and, more recently, her issues with Trump’s character.
“Oh my God, what a sorry state our country is in,” Mees said Sunday. “Mark Kelly would be a good thing, but I think it’s extremely sad that Trump is likely to win.”
Like Mees, Las Vegas real estate agent Zoila Sanchez is a lifelong Republican but not a Trump fan.
“I don’t see any other Democratic candidate as a presidential candidate,” Sanchez said after Biden withdrew. “I know it’s going to be Kamala Harris. I hope they choose a Hispanic woman as their running mate.”
Some reactions included unconventional suggestions, perhaps to be expected after such a tumultuous campaign period.
Davette Baker, a longtime black activist and organizer in Milwaukee, said, “Yes, we could make history” if Harris won the presidency. But she said she worried about whether Harris could win. Baker mentioned Kelly of Arizona as an option, then added: “If we really wanted to try a woman, we could take Liz Cheney.” The former Wyoming congresswoman, a conservative who lost a primary to a Trump-backed opponent, is one of the former president’s fiercest critics.
While recognizing the significance of the challenges ahead, many Democratic voters in our group were invigorated by the weekend’s drama, believing that Biden had virtually no chance of winning and that at least a new ticket could do so.
“It was for the best,” said Eric Jones, an African-American businessman from Milwaukee. “Now the Democrats have a chance.”
Summer Matkin, a Detroit college student who is undecided because she opposes Biden’s handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, described Harris as “a strong choice” to lead the Democratic ticket.
And Jade Gray, a recent University of Michigan graduate who was co-president of the campus’ College Democrats, said her phone was filled Sunday with excited texts from friends.
“Particularly in terms of the criminal versus prosecutor debate that could happen between Trump and Harris,” Gray said. “I know I would love to see them in a debate.”
