Kamala Harris Reignites Voting Enthusiasm Among Democrats

The 2024 Democratic National Convention kicks off in Chicago today, where Kamala Harris will be officially recognized as the Democratic party’s nominee. The DNC will last for four days, running from Monday to Thursday, with more than 4,000 delegates in attendance. Meanwhile, an estimated 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators are expected to gather outside of the event on Monday to protest against the Biden administration’s support of Israel. 

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have galvanized enthusiasm among Democratic voters. As of August 10, 67 percent of Democratic-identifying voters in a YouGov survey said that they were either very or extremely enthusiastic about voting for president in the upcoming election. This is the highest share of voters to take this stance on either side of the aisle since March. 

Republican-identifying voters are also enthusiastic, although marginally less so than their blue counterparts (65 percent). Republicans had previously sustained greater enthusiasm, with around 60 percent saying that they were either very or extremely enthusiastic over the past five months, while the share of Democrats saying the same had flitted between a high of 55 percent and a low of 42 percent, at least up until Biden announced that he was dropping out of the 2024 race. 

The new surge in enthusiasm among Democratic voters is also trickling down into voter registrations. According to a report by the New York Times, a slightly higher number of new voters have been registering as Democrats in battleground states North Carolina and Pennsylvania than Republicans since Kamala Harris’s candidacy, where previously it had been vice versa. There had been a spike in Republican registrations in both states in the week of July 14, following Trump’s near assassination.