Jan 17, 2024 - Politics & Policy

Kamala Harris says she's "scared as heck" Trump may win 2024 election

 Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the start of a meeting with the Biden administration’s Task Force on Reproductive Health Care Access in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on April 12, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House last year. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that she's "scared as heck" that former President Trump could win the 2024 presidential election.

Why it matters: Harris' comments on ABC's "The View" come as most polls show a close race between President Biden and Trump, who was declared the Iowa caucuses winner by most networks some 30 minutes after caucusing began.

What they're saying: The vice president acknowledged during her appearance on "The View" that the Biden administration has to earn re-election and they have to be on the road campaigning, as she has been.

  • "There's an old saying that there's only two ways to run for office; either without an opponent or scared. So on all of those points, yes, we should all be scared," Harris said.
  • "We don't run away from something when we're scared, we fight back against it," Harris said. "So many of us know, when we are scared for the future of our children, do we then stay in bed with the covers over our head? We can't, we cannot."

Of note: Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House communications aide turned critic of the former president, asked Harris what does it say that Democrats are "struggling to compete" with a Republican presidential primary frontrunner who faces four indictments.

  • "We are all starting to narrow in on what this election will mean and, frankly, in the midst of so many big issues challenging our world that, you know, are not binary, it's not just one side or the other, on this one, there is a split screen you can throw up and see," Harris said.
  • "And it's going to be the choice between, what is about respecting our democracy, what is about competence, versus chaos."

Go deeper: No top U.S. government official has an approval rating over 50%

Go deeper