US Presidential Bid: Why Democrats See Better Leader In Kamala Harris

US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the reelection bid on July 21, endorsing Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate for the November 2024 elections. After the 81-year-old leader's poor debate performance on June 27, 2024, a recent CNN poll showed the present Vice President as the leading choice to represent the party. The poll showed that voters believe the Indian-American leader has a higher chance of defeating Republican leader Donald Trump to retain the White House. According to the poll conducted by Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS), 45% of voters support Harris and 47% support Trump, while Biden is trailing by six points below the former President.

The CNN poll stated, “Harris’ slightly stronger showing against Trump rests at least in part on broader support from women (50% of female voters back Harris over Trump vs. 44% for Biden against Trump) and independents (43% Harris vs. 34% Biden)." 

Kamala Harris For President

As Kamala Devi Harris took oath as Vice President of the United States in January 2021, history was made. Her inauguration, alongside President Joe Biden, makes her the first-ever woman and first Black and Indian-American person to take this office, which is among the highest in the country. Their tenure commenced following a swearing-in ceremony held at the US Capitol in Washington DC.

Harris's election to the role is being hailed as a momentous occasion. Donning a purple dress, coat, and her now trademark string of pearls around her neck, Harris took oath from the Capitol amid tight security. Reports suggest her attire is designed by two Black designers and is in one of the two colours (the other being yellow) from her campaign trail.

The Biden-Harris administration succeeds former incumbent President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence's four-year tenure, after defeating them in the 2020 US Election. Trump, true to the promise he made in the aftermath of the Capitol siege of not attending the inauguration, skipped the event.   

Kamala Harris: A Look At Her Journey 

Kamala Devi Harris, an American lawyer and former California Senator, prior to being named as a running mate to Biden in 2020, was part of the presidential candidature race from the Democratic party. In 2019, however, because of financial instability, she bowed out. In August of that year, she took the stage as the vice-presidential candidate alongside Biden. 

Upon her historic 2020 election win, Harris was hailed as a woman of many firsts, most notably as the first woman and person of colour in the Vice Presidential seat in the country's history. She extended the courtesy even to her husband Doug Emhoff, who is now the US' first-ever Second Gentleman. 

She boasts of a multicultural upbringing, having been born in the US to a mother from India and a father from Jamaica. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a breast cancer researcher, raised her two daughters - Kamala and Maya - as a single mother after separating from her husband Donald Harris.

Hailing from Chennai, where the Vice President's maternal family is still based, Shyamala Gopalan gave her daughters an upbringing instilled - in Harris' own words - with "pride in our South Asian roots… we were raised with a strong awareness of and appreciation for Indian culture." Harris has, in the past, referred to her maternal grandfather PV Gopalan as "one of my favourite people in my world."