Their fear is that although she’d be a drag on the 2024 party ticket, she’s almost impossible to drop. To win, Democrats need enthusiastic support from African Americans, who are likely to be insulted if Harris is dumped. That problem might be averted if she were replaced by another African American. But there are no obvious alternatives. If Harris is replaced, it would likely be by a white or Hispanic candidate.

Such a change would roil a party deeply invested in the politics of racial and ethnic identity, where losing groups are seen as aggrieved victims, winners as “privileged” oppressors. Those divisions are most virulent when they center on America’s historic wound of race, and they would be turned inward on the party. …

Harris’ unpopularity is not limited to one or two groups. The latest Quinnipiac Poll shows she is substantially underwater with all demographic groups except one. Among blacks, 62% of registered voters view Harris favorably; only 17% unfavorably.

This racial divergence is the crux of the Democrats’ predicament.

[There are other black women in the Democratic Party, including a now-sidelined Val Demings, who would have been a far smarter choice in 2020. The problem with that kind of swap is that it exposes the choice of Harris as nothing more than pandering, and it reflects badly on Biden in all aspects. There’s a reason no incumbent has tried to dump a sitting VP from the ticket since 1944, and that was more of a grassroots effort to get rid of a Soviet sympathizer before he could succeed to the Oval Office. The internal feuding over such a move in anything less than the wartime environment of FDR’s final run for office would be fatal to party prospects, likely all the way down the ticket. The only way to get rid of Harris is to get rid of Biden. — Ed]