Kamala Harris finds 'joy' in campus leaders, youth activism: 'Not waiting around for us to fix things'
VP: 'They are ready' to take on gun violence, climate issues
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Vice President Kamala Harris said she found "joy" in the activism of young people during an interview on Tuesday, praising how they weren't waiting around for older generations to fix problems.
In a friendly conversation with talk show host Sherri Shepherd, Harris went out of her way to praise "Gen Z" as polls show President Biden in dire straits among voters aged 18-to-29.
"I find a lot of joy, I have to tell you, in our young people and our young leaders," she said. "I started a college tour last fall and meeting with Gen Z and all these young people who are not waiting around for us to fix things. They are ready to take it on. Things like gun violence, climate crisis."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"And I think that part of what we all embrace and need to acknowledge is we measure the strength of ourselves based not on who we beat down but who we lift up, and let's continue to focus on that," she continued.
Harris and Shepherd, a former co-host of "The View," mostly had a light discussion, joking at one point about going on vacation together after the 2024 election is over.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with Sherri Shepherd on "Sherri" on May 14, 2024. (Sherri / YouTube)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They also discussed such topics as abortion, student loan debt and maternal health. The Biden-Harris ticket's presumptive Republican opponent, former President Trump, didn't come up during their interview.
Biden has struggled to win back the support of younger people, a key bloc of voters that helped propel him to victory in 2020.
Student protests over Biden's stance on the Israel-Hamas war have generated headlines, although a recent Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics survey showed economic issues are of far greater concern to younger voters. Out of 16 issues, the Israel-Palestinian conflict was rated 15th in terms of priority for those polled.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A New York Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer poll published on Sunday found Trump leading the president in almost every crucial battleground state.
The survey showed young voters, in addition to Black and Hispanic voters, have given the presumptive GOP nominee electoral strength. In 2020, Biden carried the 18-to-29-year-old vote by 24 percentage points, according to The Atlantic, and any significant loss of that advantage could be decisive in 2024.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Harris also recently sat for an interview with talk-show host Drew Barrymore, who called on the vice president to be a "Mamala" for the nation.
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"I’ve been thinking that we really all need a tremendous hug in the world right now," Barrymore said, "but in our country, we need you to be Mamala of the country."