After being asked about another Harris run, following her 2024 loss to President Donald Trump, one former Harris campaign advisor said, “It’s obviously a bad idea.”

A former White House aide predicted Harris would “likely” run, but that doesn’t mean she should.

“Absolutely not,” the former aide said about a round two campaign.

Harris is keeping the door open to a 2028 run. In April at the National Action Network Convention in New York City, she told Rev. Al Sharpton she’s “thinking” about running. As McLaughlin noted, Harris has enjoyed a well-attended speaking tour since her 2024 loss, as well as a book that’s sold more than half a million copies.

“I have spoken to maybe one person out of a hundred who thinks she should run,” one former Harris advisor told Vanity Fair. “Whether it’s former campaign colleagues, people around DC, or just people around the country who are like, ‘Oh God, she’s not going to run again?’”

Billionaire Mark Cuban bluntly said “no” to another Harris run despite his past support for her 2024 campaign.

“I don’t think she should run for president,” a “top” Harris donor said.

“I have been all over the country for these midterms and I’ve not encountered anybody— anybody—who said, ‘Boy, I really hope Kamala runs,’” a veteran Democratic operative said.

Another Harris donor called it the “exact wrong thing to do.”

Some closer to Harris are more encouraging about a 2028 run, citing her name recognition, White House experience, and the fact that she pulled 75 million votes in the 2024 election, which is more than any runner up ever.

“She got more votes than anyone else who’s thinking about running. She has national experience,” a current Harris advisor said.

“She almost beat Trump last time, even in terrible circumstances of a short campaign, Biden’s unpopularity, inflation,” a former White House official also said. “And there should be no reason that she wouldn’t be well-placed to beat Trump’s successor under better circumstances.”

“The biggest problem I have with Kamala Harris is not ‘will she run or will she not run,” another White House aide said. “It’s, ‘What do you want to do if you win?’ She just has not articulated that.”

Kamala Harris Surges in New 2028 Poll

Former Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for the 2028 Democratic presidential primary surged to 50 percent in a new survey from the Center for American Political Studies and the Harris Poll, strengthening her position as the early front-runner if she chooses to run.

Chatter about the 2028 election is underway as potential candidates test their message, even though the first votes will not be cast in the primaries until early 2028. The poll signals that Harris would have an early lead for the Democratic nomination.

Newsweek reached out to Harris’ team for comment via email.

Why It Matters

Prominent prospective candidates like Harris could begin announcing their campaigns in less than a year, as hopefuls typically begin announcing soon after the midterm elections. Harris launched her 2020 campaign in January 2019.

Early polls are not always predictive of final outcomes, but they do have major implications for candidates. Donors and voters use polls to gauge whether a candidate is viable, so the numbers matter for their ability to fundraise and garner media attention.

What to Know

The new Harvard/Harris poll released Tuesday showed Harris with support from 50 percent of Democrats in the 2028 primary race—up from 41 percent in March and 39 percent in January and February.

The poll “shows that Harris is a credible candidate,” Robert Y. Shapiro, professor of political science at Columbia University, told Newsweek, noting that the trend should be compared to other candidates.

“These results, should they continue, can help Harris in getting campaign contributions and this becomes a further indication of Harris’ strength as a candidate,” he said. “But, again, other potential candidates may be getting increased approval among Democratic voters. Her advantage for now is name recognition.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom followed Harris with 22 percent support, while Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro received 9 percent. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a favorite among progressives, received 8 percent, while Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker received 6 percent.

Five percent said they would vote for someone else.

Notably, not all prospective candidates were included in the poll. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear are among the potential candidates the pollster did not ask about.

The poll surveyed 2,745 registered voters April 23-26 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.87 percentage points.

Michael Bailey, Georgetown University professor of government, told Newsweek that Harris’ support is “impressive” but largely a result of name recognition.

“She has a fairly low probability of being the nominee in the betting markets which [in theory, at least] try to think through how strong her support would really be in a competitive primary,” he said.

Kalshi’s prediction market gave Harris only a 7.8 percent chance of winning the nomination, while Polymarket’s gave her a about an 8 percent chance, as of Tuesday afternoon. Still, the poll is likely to welcome news for Harris, Bailey said.

“It would be naive for Harris to think that she would have a cakewalk, but it’s easier for her to enter/raise money if she’s sitting at 50 percent than at 5 percent,” he said.

Harris Tests Message in Key States

The jump in Harris’ support comes as she has tested her message across the country. She spoke this month at a Democratic Women’s Caucus in Michigan, a battleground state she narrowly lost in 2024. Over the weekend, she spoke at the Arkansas Democratic Party’s Fisher Shackelford Dinner in Little Rock.

She also appeared in Greenville and Columbia, South Carolina, an early-voting state in the Democratic primary that was crucial to bolstering former President Joe Biden’s primary bid in 2020.

Harris benefits from high name recognition among Democratic voters. Some have said the party should embrace a new candidate, pointing to her loss to President Donald Trump in 2024. Others have argued that she was dealt a bad hand, having to build a campaign in a matter of weeks after Biden withdrew from the race—noting that she improved on Biden’s poll numbers and may have prevented a Democratic down-ballot collapse.

Harris was floated as a potential candidate in the 2024 California gubernatorial race but opted against running. The decision fueled speculation about her interest in 2028.

How This Compares to Other Polls

Other recent polls reveal Harris as a front-runner.

A recent YouGov poll showed her lead with 24 percent support, followed by Newsom at 12 percent. Ocasio-Cortez and Buttigieg both received 9 percent, while independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was at 7 percent and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly 5 percent.

It surveyed 2,189 adults April 8-13 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

An Echelon Insights poll showed her with 22 percent, followed by Newsom at 21 percent, Buttigieg at 12 and Ocasio-Cortez at 10. No other candidates polled in the double digits. It polled 1,012 likely voters April 17-20 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

What Harris Has Said About Potential 2028 Run

Harris has suggested she could run again in 2028 but has not made a formal announcement.

“I might. I am thinking about it,” she told the Reverend Al Sharpton this month after he asked whether she planned to run for president in 2028.

Her comments came during the National Action Network’s annual convention, where more than a half‑dozen prospective Democratic contenders engaged with Black voters, one of the party’s most reliable and influential voting blocs.

“I served for four years being a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States,” Harris said. “I spent countless hours in my West Wing office footsteps away from the Oval Office. I spent countless hours in the Oval Office and the Situation Room. I know what the job is, and I know what it requires.”

Donald Trump Hits Record-High Disapproval Rating on Economy and Healthcare

President Donald Trump’s disapproval rating has reached record highs on both the economy and healthcare, according to new national polling and a CNN analysis.

The figures underscore a marked deterioration in approval across two of the most politically decisive issues ahead of the midterms.

Voters, campaigns and candidates now face a reshaped political landscape in which Trump’s core strengths—economic stewardship and populist health messaging—are under growing strain.

Economic Approval Rating Trend

The president has been underwater on this issue throughout his second term

Key Points to Know

• Trump’s disapproval has hit record highs on two defining issues—65 percent on healthcare and 70 percent on the economy, according to a CNN analysis and the latest CNN/SSRS poll, respectively.
• Economic approval is now stuck in the low 30s across major polls, with net ratings ranging from -24 to -40, signaling broad-based weakness rather than an outlier result.
• The decline is steep: Trump has swung from positive territory early in his second term to deeply negative ratings, with drops of more than 30 points in multiple surveys.
• Public sentiment has turned decisively negative, with large majorities saying the economy is worsening and costs are rising.
• On healthcare, CNN’s Harry Enten summed up the scale of the problem bluntly, saying that Trump is posting “the highest disapproval for any president this century… a score you don’t want to be winning on.”

Highest Presidential Disapproval Ratings on Healthcare

By president, per CNN polling

Why It Matters

Trump’s 2024 victory rested heavily on promises to restore economic strength and improve affordability.

Sustained declines in approval on both the economy and healthcare threaten to erode a central pillar of his governing coalition at a critical moment in the electoral cycle.

Record Disapproval On Healthcare And MAHA Risks

Speaking on CNN this week, the network’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, drawing on his own aggregate of polling, described Trump’s standing on healthcare in stark terms.

“Sixty-five percent disapprove of him on healthcare,” Enten said, calling it “the highest for any president this century.” He added that it is “a score you don’t want to be winning on,” placing Trump above previous peaks for Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

The dynamic is unfolding alongside tensions tied to “MAHA”—or “Make America Healthy Again”—the populist health agenda associated with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The framework blends anti-establishment messaging, particularly around vaccines, with more broadly popular proposals such as removing certain food additives.

But polling suggests the coalition it once helped build is fracturing.

Enten noted that Democrats hold a 16-point advantage on vaccine policy, warning that it is an area where Republicans are politically exposed.

“Democrats crush on this,” he said, arguing that any push to foreground vaccine changes would likely trigger backlash.

He added the administration may need to “tiptoe around it unless they want to take the wrath of the American public,” underlining the political sensitivity of the issue heading into the midterms.

At the same time, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—once seen as an electoral asset—has seen his own standing deteriorate.

Enten said his net favorability has fallen from positive territory (+8) to around -15 overall and as low as -26 among independents, highlighting a weakening of a previously valuable bloc of support.

Healthcare has long been a difficult issue for presidents—but Trump’s position now sits at the outer edge of that historical range, amplifying the political risk.

Economic Approval Rating Trend

Trump’s economic support has fallen sharply from reelection highs

Across-The-Board Weakness In Economic Polling

A CNN poll conducted by SSRS from April 30 to May 4, 2026, among 1,499 U.S. adults using a probability-based panel found Trump’s approval on the economy at 30 percent, with 70 percent disapproving—a net rating of -40.

The survey was conducted online and by telephone with a margin of error of ±2.8 percentage points.

That result represents the lowest economic approval recorded for Trump across either of his terms in CNN polling, with the disapproval figure also setting a new high-water mark

Other major national surveys point to the same pattern. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted May 8–11 among 1,254 U.S. adults using Ipsos’s KnowledgePanel, with a margin of error of ±2.8 percentage points, found roughly 30 percent approval against 64 percent disapproval, a net rating of -34.

Meanwhile, a YouGov/The Economist poll conducted May 1–4 among 1,573 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of ±3.4 points, recorded 34 percent approval and 58 percent disapproval, for a net rating of -24.

Taken together, as shown in the chart below, approval is clustered in the low 30s, disapproval consistently higher, and net ratings firmly negative across all surveys. The visual pattern points to convergence rather than volatility.

Economic Approval Rating Across Three Polls

The president is underwater on this key issue in several surveys, pointing to a pattern

Public Mood Mirrors The Polling Decline

Perceptions of the broader economy have deteriorated in parallel. A YouGov tracker shows a rising share of Americans now say the economy is “getting worse,” reflecting a broader collapse in confidence.

The CNN/SSRS poll reinforces that mood: 77 percent of Americans say Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living in their communities, including a majority of Republicans.

State of US Economy

The number of people saying the economy is ‘getting worse’ hits new high for Trump’s second term

Political Implications Heading Into Midterms

The economic numbers carry particular weight because they strike at the core of Trump’s political appeal.

Polling consistently shows the economy remains voters’ top issue, meaning sustained weakness here has disproportionate electoral consequences.

White House Response

The White House has pushed back, framing the polling as disconnected from the broader mandate of Trump’s 2024 victory.

Spokesman Kush Desai said Trump was “resoundingly re-elected” because he understood voters’ economic concerns, arguing the administration remains focused on tax cuts, deregulation and energy policy to restore growth.

He acknowledged short-term disruption tied to “Operation Epic Fury” but said officials expect inflation to cool and wages to rise as those policies take hold.