Democrats want Harris to pick battleground VP (and preferably a man)

A new CBS/YouGov poll from Sunday shows that most Democrats want a liberal candidate for VP who comes from a battleground state.

Kamala Harris is on the brink of announcing her pick for running mate. She has already said that her veep pick will appear alongside her at a rally on Tuesday.

The latest data shows that nearly four in ten Democrats (38 per cent) think Harris should choose a man to be her VP, as opposed to a woman (22 per cent).

Luckily for those four in ten, Harris is very likely to have a male running mate, as the three top contenders are currently Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, and Andy Beshear — though it is still possible that Harris will choose someone who she has vetted outside of the public eye.

This may be the choice that is needed to win over a key part of the electorate, says our DC correspondent Eric Garcia: white, working class men.

Some 41 per cent of Democrats think that Harris should make a strategic move by picking her running mate from a battleground state.

The time is as ripe as ever to curry favor with swing state voters, as the same CBS/YouGov poll shows that Harris leads over Donald Trump by just 1 point nationally, while the two presidential candidates are at a stalemate in battleground states.

In individual battleground states, Harris leads by a fraction in Nevada, while Trump leads in Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina, though all are by a margin which is too close to call for November.

Most of the rumoured VP shortlist candidates are from key swing states, except Governor Andy Beshear from Kentucky. Kentucky has been firmly red for the entirety of the 21st century.

The next Democratic VP candidate could be from Arizona or Pennsylvania; but notably, Governor Gretchen Whitmer (who was