Dem insider says secret poll had Kamala dead last — but party went with her anyway

BS BULLETIN:

Former Democratic fundraiser Lindy Li claims an internal 2024 poll tested possible replacements for Joe Biden and put Kamala Harris behind Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer.
Li says party insiders knew about the numbers but feared the political fallout of bypassing the sitting vice president.
The purported internal results have not been publicly released — and public polling at the time painted a very different picture.

Democratic voters were publicly being told Kamala Harris was the natural replacement for Joe Biden in 2024.

Behind closed doors, Lindy Li says Democrats had numbers telling them something very different.

Li, a former Democratic National Committee fundraiser who worked with major Biden-Harris donors, claims in her new book, “Unburdened,” that an internal poll tested Harris against other potential replacements as pressure mounted for Biden to abandon his reelection campaign.

According to Li, the results weren’t pretty for the vice president.

“Kamala Harris came in dead last,” Li told Fox News Digital. “It wasn’t even close.”

Li says the internal polling compared Harris with then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

All three performed better than Harris, according to Li.

Fox did not publish the underlying poll, its methodology, sample size or complete results, and The Daily BS has not independently reviewed it.

The claim rests on Li’s account.

Public polling conducted during the same period showed something remarkably different.

An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted after Biden’s disastrous June debate asked Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents whom they wanted as the nominee if Biden stepped aside.

Harris led the open-ended question with 29%.

Newsom received 7%, while Buttigieg and Whitmer each received 3%.

If Li’s account is accurate, Democratic insiders therefore had a private measurement of the candidates that looked almost nothing like what Democrats were saying publicly.

Li says the internal poll wasn’t designed simply to determine which potential replacement was most popular with Democratic voters.

She described it as an attempt to determine who could mount the strongest general-election challenge to Donald Trump.

“The polling numbers went directly against the narrative that the party wanted to espouse,” Li said.

So why Harris?

Li believes Democratic leaders concluded that bypassing the country’s first Black and female vice president would create an enormous political backlash inside their own coalition.

She specifically pointed to Black women, whom she described as a crucial Democratic constituency.

“They knew that skipping over Kamala Harris would be a slap in the face to the bedrock of the party, which is Black women in particular,” Li said.

Li also claims Democratic officials feared an organized backlash from Harris supporters.

Biden ultimately withdrew from the race on July 21, 2024, and endorsed Harris shortly afterward.

Harris rapidly consolidated Democratic support and secured the nomination without a contested convention.

Li’s latest revelation follows another claim from her book that Harris had been cultivating Biden’s major donors even while publicly insisting she remained firmly behind the president.

Li told Fox that Harris held a donor call shortly before Biden withdrew and assured participants that Biden was staying in the race.

“It was all charade,” Li said, arguing Harris was simultaneously positioning herself to inherit Biden’s political operation. Again, that’s Li’s characterization.

Harris representatives did not respond to Fox’s request for comment on the latest allegations. Two years later, the newly disclosed account leaves a fascinating unanswered question.

Democratic voters publicly preferred Harris as Biden’s replacement. Li says Democratic insiders privately had polling suggesting other candidates would fare better against Trump.

The party chose Harris. And America never got to see the alleged poll.