A new poll shows former Vice President Kamala Harris leading California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez among Democrat primary voters, suggesting the defeated 2024 presidential candidate is still seen as viable by the party grassroots.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Former Vice President Kamala Harris has topped a poll for the 2028 Democrat presidential primary. 📺 DETAIL: In a new poll from Rasmussen Reports, former Vice President Harris secured 37 percent, significantly outpacing Governor of California Gavin Newsom at 14 percent and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at nine percent. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) also polled at nine percent, while former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg secured ten percent. The poll revealed that Harris’s strongest support exists among black voters. The poll also showed that 53 percent of voters under 40 said they favored Harris, with support for the failed 2024 candidate dropping significantly with voters over 65. The poll was carried out between August 2 and August 4, 2026, on 504 likely Democrat primary voters. 🎯 IMPACT: Harris’s early lead suggests she remains a dominant figure among Democrats and Democrat-aligned voters, despite losing to President Donald J. Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Harris lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote. While Harris has topped this poll, other surveys show the former Vice President polling in the single digits. The new poll could suggest that Democrat voters view Harris as a unifying figure amid the party’s descent into civil war over whether to embrace the far-left politics of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). 💬 KEY QUOTE: “It is interesting that AOC has fallen, given the rising star of democratic socialism in Democratic primaries. Maybe there is some buyer’s remorse that’s being reflected in that poll. It’s still very early, and my hunch remains that Kamala Harris’s support is soft (although she has a core of staunch supporters). I would expect to see some more formal or more serious declarations of interest after the mid-terms.” – Professor Grant Davis Reeher. 📺 FLASHBACK: Back in July, it was reported that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) had topped a New Hampshire Democrat primary poll, leading former Transportation Secretary Buttigieg by one percent. Harris polled at five percent. |
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