Biden should REPLACE Kamala Harris on the ballot with Hillary Clinton, Washington Post columnist claims

A columnist in the liberal Washington Post has written that Joe Biden should consider replacing Kamala Harris on the ballot, with a blast from the past joining as his potential VP.

Biden, who has struggled in the polls nationally and in key swing states, has left Democrats wondering how to jump start his floundering campaign.

Questions and doubts exist over the health and ability to perform the job of Biden, at 81, the oldest president in American history.

Doubts have also existed over the ability of Harris - the first female and first black vice president in American history - as second-in-command given Biden's age.

Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker wrote in the Jeff Bezos-owned paper on Tuesday that Democrats should look to their recent past for a new VP.

Only about a third of Americans believe Vice President Kamala Harris would win a presidential election according to a new poll released last week.

In her piece, she wondered why no one has floated Hillary Clinton as a potential running mate.

Clinton, of course, served as First Lady, Secretary of State and a United States Senator before losing to Donald Trump in 2016. 

Parker argues that Harris lacks 'competency' which deters voters who see Biden's 'steady decline over the years' and that Clinton could provide reassurance, despite being 76 years old herself.

'If Biden needs to step down, even those who didn't vote for Clinton would have confidence in her ability to keep the country on track,' Parker wrote.

She also believes that Clinton's 2016 loss - which she's spent the last eight years playing the blame game over - still rankles her and leaves her with unfinished business.

'At 76, she might want no part of it, but it's hard to retire when you feel your job isn't done,' she wrote, citing Clinton endorsing a candidate in a New York Congressional district to unseat 'Squad' member Jamaal Bowman. 

Parker, a Pulitzer Prize winner, called it 'impossible to ignore' Biden's ''stumbles, his search for words, his occasional blank stare.' 

'It's just a thought, but worse ideas have met with regrettable success,' she wrote of Clinton. 

She admits there are 'risky' drawbacks to her plan, including alienating black voters but says Democrats must do this if they want to 'advance a worldview consistent with their values.'

Parker said that Biden should pacify Harris and her backers by making the vice president his new attorney general. 

A Politico/Morning Consult poll shows that just 34 percent believe that Harris would likely win an election for president if she was the nominee. Fifty-seven percent of voters believe it is not likely. 

The number of doubters include 31 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of Independents. 

The numbers indicate that Harris, Biden's second-in-command, would struggle if she had to replace the president as the Democratic nominee. 

Harris also faces skepticism from voters about whether she would make a good president. Just 40 percent believe she would make a good president while 51 percent do not. Nine percent did not know or did not have an opinion.

Fifty-one percent of independents believe she would not make a good president and even sixteen percent of Democrats are doubtful of a successful Harris presidency. 

Harris' polling struggles demonstrate that Biden may have picked the wrong Democrat to be his vice president, as over half of Americans do not think she would be a good president. 

But voters in the poll appear slightly more conflicted when asked if Biden should replace Harris on the ticket. 

Thirty-six percent of voters believe Biden should replace her with another Democrat while 39 percent said Biden should not replace her. Twenty-six percent did not know or had no opinion. 

Harris continues suffering low approval numbers, currently at 42 percent which is up slightly from previous polls. A Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll in May showed her with only a 37 percent approval rating.

Her failed 2020 presidential campaign and her performance as vice president has left the country divided about her political skills. 

Fifty-two percent of voters in the poll believe Harris is smart, 47 percent believe she is level headed, and 45 percent believe she is prepared. Just 44 percent described her as honest.

Despite her low polling numbers, Harris' strong name identification with Democrats gives her a significant edge among other possible presidential candidates for 2028. 

Among Democrats, 41 percent chose Harris as the hypothetical nominee in 2028. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was second with 15 percent followed closely by California Gov. Gavin Newsom at 14 percent.

The rest of potential 2028 Democrat presidential nominees remained in the single digits with Democrats. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at 5 percent, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly at 4 percent and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at 2 percent. 

Seventeen percent of Democrats didn’t know or had no opinion. 

The Politico/Morning Consult poll surveyed 3,996 registered voters from May 28-29 and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.