U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg received some more positive data on Sunday, as new polling showed him with a higher favorability rating than other Democrats currently being floated as potential running mates for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris received President Joe Biden’s endorsement one week ago after the then-presumptive Democratic nominee made the unprecedented decision to drop his 2024 campaign bid, despite winning the primaries. Since then, Democrats have quickly coalesced around Harris who is expected to become the party’s official nominee at their convention in August.
Speculation has swirled over the past week over who Harris could choose as her running mate, with a number of leading contenders appearing to emerge. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been cited as a potential candidate, as have Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, among others.
Polling suggests that Buttigieg may be the favorite among voters. New polling released by ABC News/Ipsos on Sunday showed Buttigieg with a higher favorability rating than other Democrats reported to be on Harris’ shortlist.
Buttigieg was viewed favorably by 29 percent of respondents, with Kelly coming in second at 22 percent. Following them, Governor Gavin Newsom of California was at 21 percent and Whitmer was at 20 percent. Shapiro came in at 17 percent.
The survey included 1,200 respondents and was carried out from July 26 to 27. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Newsweek has reached out to spokespeople for Buttigieg and the Harris campaign for comment.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
Previous polling has shown Buttigieg as a popular choice among voters as well.
A poll conducted by PBS News/NPR/Marist this month found 21 percent of voters said they’d like to see Harris choose Buttigieg. Whitmer received 21 percent in the same poll, while 17 percent chose Shapiro and 13 percent wanted Kelly.
The University of New Hampshire on Thursday released the results of a poll among Democratic voters in Maine that found Buttigieg as the leading choice with 21 percent, followed by Kelly at 17 percent and then Shapiro at 7 percent.
The FairVote organization earlier this month released the results of a ranked choice poll that found Buttigieg as the top choice among Democratic or undecided voters. The poll gave respondents a number of choices for a Harris running mate and, in the ninth round of voting, 52 percent chose a ticket with Harris and Buttigieg on it, compared to 48 percent with Harris and Whitmer.
Buttigieg ran a strong presidential Democratic primary campaign in 2020 winning the Iowa caucuses, and coming in a very close second in New Hampshire. However, he went on to finish fourth in South Carolina, after which he dropped out and endorsed Biden, who went on to win the primary and defeat former President Donald Trump in the general election.
In an interview with TMZ on Wednesday, Buttigieg was asked about what his strategy would be if he was selected to join Harris’ ticket.
“My strategy is going to be the same no matter what, and that is to tell the world about the kind of leader Kamala Harris is,” he said.
If chosen by Harris, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay individual to be the running mate on a major party ticket. The secretary was asked about the “significance” of that fact during the TMZ interview.
“I’m not saying it’s not a thing, but I’m saying it’s been extraordinary how people look past that,” Buttigieg explained. “When I came out, I was in the middle of reelection in my home town in Mike Pence’s Indiana, and I wound up getting a higher proportion of the vote than the first time, because the city I was mayor of thought I did a good job.”
Pence was previously the governor of Indiana and is widely remembered for backing anti-LGBTQ+ policies. He went on to serve as Trump’s vice president, but has refused to support the former president in his 2024 campaign.
“When I ran for president, part of how I won Iowa was that I wound up doing especially well in right-leaning and conservative counties, these counties that voted for Obama and then voted for Trump,” Buttigieg said.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
