As Vice President Kamala Harris struggles with poor favorability, a powerful political group is announcing it plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to help boost her image.
EMILY's List, a political organization that advances female candidates who support abortion rights, said it will spend "tens of millions of dollars" to aid Harris and her favorability in the 2024 presidential election. The group said it is still determining the specifics of the investment.
"We’re going to tell the story about who she is, what she’s done, support her at every turn and really push back against the massive misinformation and disinformation that’s been directed towards her since she’s been elected," said Laphonza Butler, the president of EMILY’s List, adding the group needs to "remind" voters of Harris but not redefine her.
The latest polling averages show Harris with 36 percent approval and 56 percent disapproval.
The announcement comes weeks after President Joe Biden's campaign highlighted Harris frequently in the campaign launch announcement, as the White House tries to find ways to boost her image.
The video, released in April, showed Harris and the president together several times. White House officials are especially concerned about the vice president hindering the campaign, Axios reported at the time.
Administration officials are focused on improving Harris’s approval ratings as Biden ramps up his campaign, Axios reported. Some in the West Wing are concerned Harris could hurt the campaign in battleground states.
The political group's investment highlights how vulnerable the Biden campaign is made by Harris's poor favorability, Politico reported:
Such an investment in support of a sitting vice president is politically unprecedented. And it reflects the lack of broader efforts that have been made to date to help bolster the vice president amid persistently low approval ratings.
