The 2024 presidential election may be years away, but political pollsters are always looking towards the future. While putting together a Hill-HarrisX poll, researchers asked potential voters who they would like to support in the upcoming presidential race if President Joe Biden were not to run for re-election. Through this effort, Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as the leading political candidate with 13% of the vote and former First Lady Michelle Obama followed closely behind with 10% of the vote. Other potential candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Cory Booker, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg earned less than 5% of voters' support.
Obama appears as a likely presidential candidate because she has spent time in the White House as the First Lady during Barack Obama's historic presidency. She also has degrees from Princeton University and Harvard University. Not to mention, she has led several health initiatives, voting rights campaigns and championed LGBTQIA+ advocacy groups. In the political realm, she has delivered remarks at the last four Democratic National Conventions. Adding on, Gallup polls have shown that she has been the most admired woman in America for the last three years. However, she has never run for political office. More importantly, she has repeatedly said that she is not interested in running for President.
“I wouldn’t ask my children to do this again because when you run for higher office, it’s not just you. It’s your whole family,” she said in 2017, according to Yahoo! News.
Meanwhile, Harris appears to have more of an interest in running for President if Biden were not to run for re-election. In fact, she competed against Biden for the Democratic nomination before joining him as his running mate. Also, she has served as a U.S. Senator and the California Attorney General. However, she has steered clear of discussing the next presidential election.
“You're not discussing 2024 yet?” This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos asked earlier this month.
"Absolutely not," Harris answered.
With more than 24 months left until the next election, Harris and Obama may both change their minds if Biden opts not to run in 2024.
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