Beleaguered vice president Kamala Harris plans image reboot

Vice-President Kamala Harris is planning an image “reboot” after a troubled first year in office which has seen her poll ratings plummet.

Once seen as Joe Biden’s heir apparent, Ms Harris is in trouble, with Washington insiders suggesting she could be vulnerable to a challenge from other Democrat big hitters – including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg – if Mr Biden does not seek a second term.

Hoping to get her fortunes back on track, Ms Harris has hired Jamal Simmons as communications director.

A political veteran, Mr Simmons has generated controversy claimed that George Bush stole the 2000 election from Al Gore.

The vice president plans to raise her media profile with a heavier schedule of public appearances.

Mr Simmons steps in just over a month after her high-profile spin doctor, Symone Sanders quit - the latest in a series of resignations from the vice president’s office in recent months.

Her latest poll rating shows a net disapproval rating of 11.4 points, even worse than Mr Biden’s 9.3 and Donald Trump’s 10-point gap.

Ms Harris is hardly the first vice president to struggle to cope with what is regarded as one of the worst roles in American politics.

Richard Nixon was barely on speaking terms with Dwight Eisenhower and more recently Mike Pence has come under withering attack from Mr Trump.

“It’s an enormously frustrating job,” said Chris Galdieri,” associate professor of politics at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.

“You don’t have much independence and you are dependent on the president for any responsibility.

“Beyond that, you are just waiting for some to happen to the president.

“Harris is not a senior statesman like Biden or Cheney, that compounds the frustration.

“She spent years as this dynamic ‘up and comer’ with ambitions of her own. Now she has to sit tight and try to do no harm to the president’s agenda or her own career prospects.

“The reality is she needs the pandemic to end and inflation to go down so people are not complaining about the cost of a pint of milk or filling their cars.

“That can’t be solved by just changing a communications director.”