Joe Biden has gotten a bump in the polls from picking Kamala Harris
Following the convention of their party, the presidential nominee can typically enjoy a sizable bounce in the polls. This was true even for Donald Trump coming out of the 2016 Republican convention, although it quickly evaporated in a few days. Even before Joe Biden got to speak on Thursday night, delivering one of the greatest and most impassioned speeches of his political career, if not the best, his bounce in the polls was already apparent – something that pollsters are attributing to his decision to announce Kamala Harris as his running mate.
The latest polls released on Wednesday from the nonpartisan Voter Participation Center and Center for Voting Information are showing that Biden made the right decision, with an 11-point increase in support among Black voters and a 15-point increase among Latino voters, two voting bases that are indispensable for Democrats to win the White House in November. Biden and Harris are now leading both groups by 80 and 50 points respectively.
What makes this poll unique from other polls is that it also collects data based on how people are looking to vote, with both groups showing concern about COVID-19 at polling places and the safety of voting by mail, with roughly 35% of each group surveyed trusting vote-by-mail as reliable. While Democrats have finalized their ticket for 2020 and have won a considerable victory in Donald Trump’s war against the post office, it’s clear that the hard part is only beginning to materialize now.
This is why it is not enough to simply vote and convince non-voters to vote in this election – you should also volunteer and make sure the most accurate information regarding voting is available to as many voters as possible. The numbers are in our favor – let’s elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on November 3, and do it by the highest margin we can.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making