Favourable views of Harris have risen this summer heading into DNC: Polls

Vice President Kamala Harris is entering the Democratic National Convention with increased excitement from Democrats and a steady rise in her favorability ratings among Americans as a whole.

About half of US adults 48 per cent have a very or somewhat favorable view of Harris, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

That is up from 39 per cent at the beginning of the summer, before President Joe Biden's poor performance in his debate against former President Donald Trump ultimately led him to drop out of the presidential race.

That's not just an improvement for Harris but also from where President Joe Biden stood before he dropped out, when 38 per cent said they had a favorable opinion of him. It's also somewhat better than the 41 per cent of adults who say they have a favorable opinion of Trump.

The rise in favorability for Harris comes as more Americans overall have formed an opinion about her while the Harris and Trump campaigns rush to define her nascent candidacy. The share saying they don't know enough about her to have an opinion has halved, from 12 per cent in June to 6 per cent now.