Kamala Harris' abortion clinic visit won't make people like her more. Plus, it's cringe.

When I heard the news that Vice President Kamala Harris would stop by an abortion clinic Thursday in Minnesota, the first word that popped in my head was “gross.”

While her visit is being hailed as “historic” and “dramatic and symbolic,” it’s worth considering why she’s doing this. It’s a blatant attempt to pander to voting blocs that she and President Joe Biden must win over if they have a shot at a second term – and that includes Black voters and younger Americans.

Harris has turned sharply to championing abortion rights this year, traveling around the country on a self-described “reproductive freedoms tour.”

It’s one thing to talk about reproductive rights and another to physically go to a place that routinely offers abortions – which involves the ending of a human life’s beginning.

There’s a good reason why no vice president or president has publicly visited an abortion provider before. It’s a bad look.

Biden administration strives to change voters' priorities

It’s also obvious what the Biden campaign is seeking to do here. It wants to change the conversation.

Harris and Biden want to recapture voters' angst after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a decision that sent the issue of abortion rights back to the states.

Abortion played a significant role in the midterm elections that year and in subsequent ones.

However, it’s since fallen off the list of top priorities for voters. In a recent Gallup poll asking Americans what they thought were the biggest problems facing the country, abortion didn’t make the list at all.

Rather, immigration, the economy and inflation topped the concerns.

Those are issues that Biden and Harris would rather avoid, since illegal immigration and inflation have spiked under their watch.

Biden at the border: Playing catch-up on immigration, Biden chases Trump to the Mexico border

The president also faces other warning signs about voters' shifting priorities. Younger voters and voters of color – two groups Harris hopes to target – are very concerned with the Biden administration's handling of the Israeli-Hamas war.

For instance, at an abortion rights rally in January at which Harris and Biden spoke, pro-Palestinian protesters kept interrupting with calls of “Genocide Joe.” It’s happened elsewhere, too.

Harris is even less popular than Biden (and Trump!)

And don’t forget: Harris is wildly unpopular and has been throughout Biden’s term, despite efforts to revamp her image.

A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll highlights that a paltry 36% of Americans approve of her job performance. Biden, who also faces tanking approval numbers, still beats her at 41%.

Biden can't hide his age: Biden's State of the Union was decent. It's not enough to make voters forget he's old.

Similarly, only 38% have a favorable view of her personally. That’s less than both Biden at 41% and former President Donald Trump at 40%. That's no easy feat.

There has been plenty of chatter about offloading her from the ticket, but just as it’s looking impossible to persuade Biden to step aside, Harris doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.

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After all, when she joined the ticket four years ago, many assumed that Biden would be a one-term president and then hand the reins to her.

That hasn’t happened. And now that the American people have gotten to know Harris better, they want nothing to do with her.

Given the very real age problems that Biden, 81, faces, there will be even more focus on Harris’ probability of succeeding him at some point during a second term.

And that’s not a selling point.

Neither is Harris’ abortion clinic visit. Voters should see what she’s doing for what it is – a desperate move to keep her job.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: VP Harris Planned Parenthood abortion clinic visit is a desperate move