Mark Kelly seen most favorably of potential VP picks, followed by Shapiro, Beshear, Buttigieg: Poll

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) holds the highest net favorability rating of the Democratic officials rumored to be potential running mates for Vice President Harris, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, according to a poll released Sunday.  

A plurality of voters, however, say they either don’t know or don’t hold an opinion of most of the possible VP contenders.

In the ABC News/Ipsos poll, conducted July 26-27, Kelly holds a positive 10-point net favorability rating among Americans: 22 percent view him favorably, while 12 percent view him unfavorably. Another 41 percent say they don’t know him, and 24 percent say they have no opinion.

Three Democrats follow Kelly in second place, with positive 4-point net favorability ratings: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (17 percent favorable; 13 percent unfavorable), Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (13 percent favorable; 9 percent unfavorable) and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (29 percent favorable; 25 percent unfavorable).

Buttigieg and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are the only Democrats known to a majority of respondents — of Buttigieg, 46 percent either don’t know (27 percent) or have no opinion (19 percent), and of Newsom, 45 percent either don’t know (26 percent) or have no opinion (19 percent).

Newsom fares worse in favorability than Buttigieg, however, with a negative 12-point rating, with 21 percent viewing him favorably and 33 percent viewing him unfavorably.

In the same poll, Harris’s favorability ticked up by 8 points compared to the previous survey, conducted one week earlier. The latest poll shows Harris with a positive 1-point favorability rating, with 43 percent viewing her favorably and 42 percent viewing her unfavorably. Last week, 35 percent viewed her favorably.

Harris, in the poll, also outperformed former President Trump’s negative 16-point favorability rating (36 percent favorable; 52 percent unfavorable) and President Biden’s negative 13-point favorability (37 percent favorable; 50 percent unfavorable).

The poll comes as Harris solidifies her spot as the party’s presumptive nominee, and public attention focuses on whom Harris will pick as her running mate. She faces no serious challenger, and Democrats have been lining up to offer their endorsements. She has also secured a sufficient number of delegates’ support to win the party nomination.

The poll was conducted among 1,200 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.