A poll released before Harris’s announcement on Tuesday found that a majority of Americans were unfamiliar with Harris’ new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D).
According to an NPR/PBS News/Marist National poll, nearly three-quarters of respondents, or 71 percent, said they didn’t know enough about Walz to form an opinion. Of the remaining respondents, 17 percent had a favorable opinion of him and 12 percent had an unfavorable view of him.
Walz’s selection ended the highly anticipated Democratic “vice presidential” race, beating out Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).
The same poll found that finalists Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) were better known, but that didn’t stop Harris from making the decision.
Early speculation about who the vice president might join her in November was dominated by rumors of other high-profile names, including Shapiro and Kelly, so Waltz emerged as a potential contender for the No. 2 spot.
But the Minnesota governor saw his profile rise significantly last week, especially after a viral cable news interview in which he derided some Republicans as “weird” — an attack line later adopted by the national Democratic Party.
The candidate has won praise from both progressive and moderate Democrats.
“Vice President Harris did a great job choosing Gov. Walz as her running mate,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote on the social media platform X. “Together, they will govern effectively, inclusively, and boldly for the American people. From health care to school lunches, they won’t back down when the going gets tough.”
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), the first House Democrat to call for Biden to step down, called Walz “a solid, decent former colleague with a good sense of humor, a former teacher and veteran who represented a typically Republican district in Minnesota.”
“You can’t help but hang out with a pragmatic team,” Doggett wrote on X. “As governor, he provides a straightforward, compassionate leader who can make the progress we need.”
Before entering politics, Walls worked as a teacher, teaching high school social studies and coaching football. He was the defensive coordinator for the 1999 state championship team.
He also served 24 years in the Army National Guard, enlisting at age 17 and rising to the rank of sergeant in the artillery, before retiring in 2005 to run for Congress.
He served six terms in the House of Representatives, representing a rural area in Minnesota, before moving on to become governor in 2018. Walz was popular with his colleagues on Capitol Hill and earned the distinction of being the highest-ranking enlisted man in Congressional history.
A recent poll found that 46 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Harris, while 44 percent have a favorable view of Trump. The poll also found that 34 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio).
The NPR/PBS/Marist poll of 1,613 adults was conducted Aug. 1-4 and has a 3.3% margin of error.
