Interviews in downtown plazas and suburban strip malls with more than two dozen voters in Philadelphia and Bucks County, Pa. — two essential places in the Democratic Party electoral map — illuminate Harris’ struggles in public opinion polls. All of the interviews were conducted during the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan but before the terrorist attack that killed 13 American service members and scores of Afghans.

Some of Harris’ challenges, including the perception that she is not a central player in the administration, have bedeviled her predecessors to varying degrees, given that the No. 2 job requires deference. Others are unique to the nation’s first female vice president: Two men told a reporter outright that a woman should never be president; a third said she “cackles” too much; a fourth called her “a joke,” who was put in her job as “a trophy.”

It’s impossible to quantify how many of Harris’ political struggles are the result of racism and sexism — both blatant and subtle — and how many stem from her actions and personal qualities. She has made political mistakes and is in office in an era of hyper-partisanship, when few politicians have attracted large majorities of national support.