By Matthew Impelli
Life & Trends Reporter
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Some past polling may show why Vice President Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 election.
"I'm proud to announce that I've asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate. As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his," Harris wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "It's great to have him on the team. Now let's get to work."
In response, Walz called it an "honor of a lifetime" to join Harris's campaign and said: "Vice President Harris is showing us the politics of what's possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school."
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Prior to her decision, some other names were floated around as possible running mates, such as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
However, in 2022, VoteCast from The Associated Press found Walz winning votes among young voters and union households in the state's gubernatorial election.
While he didn't secure a win among white voters without a college degree, his performance with this demographic surpassed that of Democrats nationwide. In Minnesota, he garnered 44 percent of their votes, compared to just 32 percent for Democratic candidates nationally.
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Last month, a poll from ABC News/Ipsos found that almost 9 in 10 Americans said they didn't know enough about Walz, compared to other possible VP choices, but his background as a military veteran and former high school teacher—two highly trusted professions—could enhance his appeal to voters.
A separate Ipsos poll from earlier this year found nearly 90 percent of Americans having a favorable view of military veterans, while roughly 80 percent said the same for teachers. AP VoteCast from 2022 found that Walz lost to his Republican challenger among military households in Minnesota.
AP VoteCast from 2022 also found that while he faced challenges among white men, a demographic Democrats have aimed to reclaim from former President Donald Trump, he still performed slightly better with this group than Democrats did on a national scale.
Walz, 60, now in his second term as governor, has gained recognition for his progressive policies while also maintaining an ability to appeal to rural voters in conservative strongholds.
His selection suggests Harris aims to compete in both the Rust and Sun Belt states that appeared to have fallen out of grasp when President Joe Biden was on top of the ticket.
Polling from RealClearPolitics shows that across several recent polls in Minnesota, Harris currently leads Trump by an average of 8 percentage points.
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