Public split or unsure about Walz: Poll

The public is somewhat split or unsure about the choice of Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) to join Vice President Kamala Harris’s ticket, according to a poll.

In the poll, released Tuesday night, 35% of registered voters said they were unsure about the choice, while 35% said Walz was a good pick and 16% said he was a bad pick, according to YouGov.

The number of independents and Republicans unsure about Walz is the same, both at 40%. When asked whether they had enough information about Walz to form an opinion, 45% of registered voters said no, suggesting not enough is known about Harris’s choice by the general public.

Democrats have a positive view of Walz, with 62% having a favorable opinion. A majority of voters who describe themselves as “liberal” or “very liberal” also have a positive view of Walz, with “very liberal” voters having a higher opinion than just “liberal” voters, at 69% and 63%, respectively.

Democrats’ favorable opinion of Walz changed drastically after he was announced as the vice presidential pick, going from 28% before he was announced as Harris’s running mate and jumping up to 62%. Republicans’ dislike of Walz rose less, going from 23% to 40%.

Out of the pool of vice presidential picks Harris could have chosen from, Walz was near the bottom, below Democrats’ top choice of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who was supported by 58%, and former odds-on favorite Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), supported by 46%. Walz had an approval rating of 32% and a “not sure” rating of 59%, the third-highest at the time.

The poll ran online on Aug. 6 and surveyed 3,003 adults. The margin of error was 2.5%.