After hearing more than two dozen contentions for and against Harris, 53 percent of voters — including 86 percent of self-identified liberals, 84 percent of Democrats and a 48 percent plurality of independents — said they approved of Biden’s decision, statistically unchanged from the answers received prior to the message test.

The news of Harris’ placement on Biden’s ticket made a bigger initial splash than Hillary Clinton’s selection of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) as her running mate against Trump in 2016. In Harris’ first full day on the ticket, 37 percent of voters said they had seen, read or heard “a lot” about Biden’s selection, compared with 17 percent who said they’d heard a lot about Clinton’s choice four years ago.

The news had strongest resonance among Democrats, 45 percent of whom heard a lot about it (up 24 points from the 2016 announcement), while a third of Republicans and 27 percent of independent voters said the same.