Member station reporters asked Democratic and Independent voters how they felt about Biden’s decision to end his campaign and Kamala Harris being the likely candidate to lead the Democratic ticket.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Vice President Kamala Harris has emerged as the likely candidate to lead the Democratic ticket after President Biden announced he’s ending his reelection campaign. Reporters from our member stations around the country asked Democratic and independent voters how they felt about the decision. Shameem Clark Hubbard of Missouri says she was sad that Biden’s ending his campaign.
SHAMEEM CLARK HUBBARD: My first reaction was like, wow, all of the talks that have been going on, everything that people have been speculating on, I can’t believe – I really couldn’t believe that it came to fruition. I still believed in the party. I still believed in his message.
SHAPIRO: Clark Hubbard, who’s a St. Louis alderwoman, says she’s ready to rally behind Harris.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Evan Bondurant from West Virginia says he’s more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate now.
EVAN BONDURANT: I wasn’t going to vote for just Joe Biden because I felt like he was just too old and stuff. But now that he’s dropping out of the race, it makes me maybe a little bit more likely to maybe vote for whoever they replace him with.
CHANG: But Bondurant says he isn’t convinced enough people will vote for Harris.
SHAPIRO: In swing state Wisconsin, 26-year-old Adrienne Burgard says Biden’s decision has revived her energy to go vote.
ADRIENNE BURGARD: I was not excited to vote for Biden, but I was ’cause we live in a swing state. But now I feel like I will go and enjoy it a little bit more.
CHANG: Twenty-three-year-old La’Nissa Rozier from Georgia, another swing state, is more skeptical. She says Biden stepping aside puts Democrats at a disadvantage.
LA’NISSA ROZIER: I don’t have faith in the American people, that they will be equally fair to a Black woman running. As a Black woman in America, I just don’t – against Donald Trump, I do not see them letting a Black woman take that seat.
CHANG: All right. Well, we have called two member station reporters from those swing states, Anya van Wagtendonk from WPR in Madison, Wis., and WABE’s Rahul Bali from Atlanta, Ga. Hey to both of you.
RAHUL BALI, BYLINE: Hey.
ANYA VAN WAGTENDONK, BYLINE: Hey.
CHANG: All right. Well, Anya, I want to start with you because Wisconsin elections are typically really close, right? Like, so how does Biden dropping out of the race shake things up where you are specifically, you think?
WAGTENDONK: Yeah. Four of our last six presidential elections were decided by less than a percentage point. And Trump and Biden have been really neck and neck here for months, even as those questions about Biden’s fitness really started to ramp up. So now, with many prominent Democrats throwing their weight behind Harris, the question is whether she can generate some enthusiasm, especially among younger voters and swayable suburban voters.
I’m also interested in what Marquette Law School pollster Charles Franklin calls the, quote, “double haters.” That’s people who dislike both Trump and Biden equally. He says Harris will need to pull some of those voters, which could include independents and even disaffected Republicans alongside her Democratic base.
CHANG: Well, Rahul, let’s turn to Georgia. Like, what has the vibe been like there since Biden announced that he’s stepping aside?
BALI: So there have been two distinct camps that I’ve talked to. So hours after Sunday’s announcement, I went to a suburban Atlanta strip mall in Snellville, Ga. The vast majority of folks running in and out of the grocery store were not surprised by Biden’s decision. One of those, Shawn Moore (ph) of Atlanta.
SHAWN MOORE: It was kind of written on the wall. People were waiting for him to drop out and assessing his health and progression as far as mentally and, you know, verbal speech, and apparently it wasn’t up to par. I mean, it was kind of clear to see.
BALI: Now, among the Democratic political folks I talked to, some thought President Biden would stick it out. Some were sad, surprised by his decision. Other Democrats were glad a decision was made. Now, back to the rainy strip mall, one of the supporters of former President Donald Trump I talked to says it doesn’t matter, the switch from Biden to Harris. He believes, no matter what, Trump is going to win.
CHANG: Well, how about that? Because, Anya, coming off of the convention last week, we saw all this enthusiasm and loyalty for Donald Trump in your state. How do you think Biden’s decision is going to affect the energy for Harris in Wisconsin?
WAGTENDONK: Yeah. Enthusiasm for Biden had been flagging in recent weeks. And so Democrats in Wisconsin think that this is a chance to generate new enthusiasm among the base. A cornerstone of that base is in Milwaukee. That’s the largest city. It’s the most diverse city. And it’s a historic Democratic stronghold. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has already endorsed Harris, and he says he thinks she can help close that enthusiasm gap in the race.
DAVID CROWLEY: I do believe that she is going to bring some enthusiasm. She’s going to bring what people have been looking for, some youth, into this election compared to our two other candidates.
WAGTENDONK: The Harris campaign will also depend on the capital of city of Madison, where I’m based, which is also home to the flagship university campus. So that also speaks to another really important group here in Wisconsin, which is students. The Biden campaign already had a really robust campaign apparatus here, and it seems like they’re basically handing the keys over to Harris. And so that tells me they’ll also be targeting other college towns in the west and north, and then also really trying to chip away at Republican margins in the Milwaukee suburbs.
CHANG: Well, Rahul, what groups of voters will you be looking at closely as the Democratic field shifts from Biden to Harris?
BALI: Two groups. First, Black voters. You’ve seen Republican efforts to attract more Black voters while Democrats have been trying to fortify their position with a group that’s been critical to their successes here in Georgia. Look; one of President Joe Biden’s college commencement addresses was at Morehouse College here in Atlanta, which is a prominent historically Black college for men. Vice President Harris was here recently to appear before the 100 Black Man of America Conference. So those efforts, in this case, specifically aimed at Black men.
One other group is a segment of swing voters in the northern suburbs of Atlanta that we’ve been following for a couple of cycles. In 2022, these were the voters that were part of the split that led to Republican Governor Brian Kemp winning reelection, and on the same ballot, saw Democratic U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock be the top vote-getter. He eventually went on to win in a runoff. Look; in some of my recent reporting, some of these swing voters could be open to a third party or independent presidential candidate like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
WAGTENDONK: I’ll add, that’s similar here in Wisconsin, too. Black voters in Milwaukee, particularly, have historically been absolutely critical to Democratic victories in the state. Voters, also, in what’s known as the WOW counties surrounding Milwaukee, that was forever a very Republican stronghold, and that’s actually been increasingly get-able for Democrats. So we’ll be watching that really closely.
CHANG: Well, I know, Anya, Kamala Harris was already scheduled to appear in Milwaukee tomorrow before the whole announcement came down. Like, have her plans changed? Do you know?
WAGTENDONK: No. She is still expected to visit, but now it’s her first public rally since the news of Biden stepping down. So we’ll see how her focus at the event has shifted now that she’s no longer someone else’s surrogate, but potentially asking for support for her own campaign.
BALI: And look; Vice President Harris has already been visiting Georgia regularly, with five stops this year alone. And we’ve been hearing that the next Harris stop should be in a matter of weeks.
CHANG: That was WABE’s Rahul Bali and Wisconsin Public Radio’s Anya van Wagtendonk. Thank you to both of you.
WAGTENDONK: Thank you.
BALI: Thank you.
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