Meme-based canvassing: Why Kamala Harris has a good chance of winning the election

In the 2019 primaries, Kamala Harris was highly critical of Joe Biden. At a debate, she chided the former vice president for opposing racial integration efforts at public schools. Her online followers called themselves K-Hive (“Kamala's Hive”) and defended her so zealously against any attacks that supporters of other candidates accused Harris supporters of bullying and toxic behavior.

However, her campaign was never able to garner significant support, and in December 2019, Harris dropped out of the race before the first primary contest. Despite her criticism of Biden, it was Harris who endorsed his candidacy in March 2020 over far-left Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. And in August of that year, Biden announced that Harris would be his running mate. Together they won the election, and a clip of Harris calling Biden and laughingly saying “We did it, Joe! You're going to be the next president of the United States,” went viral on social media. The tweet with the video made it to the top 10 most popular posts of 2020.

From there, however, a less favorable meme emerged. In 2021, Joe Biden directed Harris to meet with Central American leaders to discuss potential ways of reducing the number of migrants trying to enter the U.S. through Mexico. This coincided with a record increase in illegal migration. And while Harris lacked the authority and functionality to deal with problems at the border herself, Republicans were quick to accuse her of inaction on the issue. For many voters, she is now synonymous with the border crisis.

Can Harris beat Trump?

Kamala Harris is still notably unpopular, and her approval rating is almost identical to Biden's. In a potential race against Trump, her numbers are also similar to what Biden had been putting up a few weeks ago. With the election just over three months away, Harris has very little time to build a strong and effective campaign.