Lindy Li claims secret polls showed Harris last in 2024 race
Former Democrat fundraiser releases claims in new book about internal party polling.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Lindy Li claims secret polls showed Harris last in 2024 race
Photograph: American Wire News (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Former Democrat fundraiser Lindy Li claims secret internal polls showed Kamala Harris performed last in potential 2024 presidential election matchups.
- Li alleges the Democratic party ignored these findings, fearing backlash and accusations of racism if they bypassed Harris.
- These claims are detailed in Li's new book, 'Unburdened', which discusses the search for a replacement after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race.
- The internal poll results have not been publicly released.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
42/100
Craft
59/100
Hype
68/100
7 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
None of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Lindy Li, a former Democrat fundraiser, has claimed that secret internal polling conducted by the Democratic party showed Kamala Harris performing poorly in potential matchups for the 2024 presidential election. Li stated that Harris came in last place in these polls, behind Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom, and Gretchen Whitmer. She alleges that despite these findings, the party proceeded with Harris as a candidate due to a fear of being labelled racist and facing backlash from her online supporters.
Li is releasing these claims in her new book, titled 'Unburdened'. According to Li, the internal polling was commissioned after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. She told Fox News Digital that the polling numbers contradicted the narrative the party wished to promote, but bypassing Harris was seen as a significant risk due to her base of support, particularly among Black women. Li described the internal polling as a 'well-kept open secret' among party members.
Disputed claims
The dailybs.com noted that the purported internal results have not been publicly released and that public polling at the time presented a different picture. None of the reports provided details on the methodology or specific numbers from the internal polls.
What the coverage left out
None of the right-rated reports mention any details about public polling that may have shown different results, as noted by thedailybs.com. Furthermore, no left- or centre-rated outlets covered Lindy Li's claims about the internal polling.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 1 time, most recently on 17 Sept 2026, 14:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Centre
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated centre has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Right
7 rated outlets
- Right-rated reports focused on Lindy Li's claims that secret internal polling showed Kamala Harris performing poorly in potential 2024 presidential election matchups. American Wire News and Bizpac Review highlighted Li's assertion that Harris came in last place, behind Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom, and Gretchen Whitmer. These outlets also emphasised Li's statement that the Democratic party was 'terrified' of bypassing Harris due to fear of being labelled racist and facing backlash from her online supporters. American Wire News quoted Li directly, stating, 'No one wanted to be labeled as a racist.' The reports noted that these claims are detailed in Li's new book, 'Unburdened', and that the internal polling was conducted after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Lindy Li claims secret polls showed Harris last in 2024 race?
- Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 0% are rated centre, 100% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Lindy Li claims secret polls showed Harris last in 2024 race left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Lindy Li claims secret polls showed Harris last in 2024 race biased?
- Lindy Li claims secret polls showed Harris last in 2024 race is one event reported by 7 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Lindy Li claims secret polls showed Harris last in 2024 race?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Lindy Li claims secret polls showed Harris last in 2024 race?
- 7 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What claims is Lindy Li making about Kamala Harris?
- Lindy Li, a former Democrat fundraiser, claims that secret internal Democratic party polling showed Kamala Harris performed poorly in potential 2024 presidential election matchups, placing her last behind other potential candidates. She alleges the party ignored these results due to fear of backlash.
- Why did the Democratic party allegedly ignore the polling results?
- According to Lindy Li, the Democratic party allegedly ignored the internal polling results showing Kamala Harris performed poorly because they feared being labelled racist and facing backlash from her online supporters. She stated that bypassing Harris was seen as a significant risk.
- Where are these claims being published?
- Lindy Li is releasing these claims in her new book, titled 'Unburdened'. The book reportedly details the internal party polling and the decision-making process following Joe Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
Read it at the source
7 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Centre
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Right
7- Dem insider says secret polling warned about Kamala Harris — but party was ‘terrified’ of her online army (opens Bizpac Review in a new tab)
Bizpac Review — is Bizpac Review biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Dem insider says secret polling warned about Kamala Harris — but party was ‘terrified’ of her online army · American Wire News (opens American Wire News in a new tab)
American Wire News — is American Wire News biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Dem insider says secret poll had Kamala dead last — but party went with her anyway - The Daily Bo Snerdley (opens thedailybs.com in a new tab)
thedailybs.com — is thedailybs.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- OUCH: Kamala Harris Wasn't Even in Top 3 of Biden Successors, Ex-Insider Claims (opens RedState in a new tab)
- Ex-Dem insider drops bombshell on where Harris ranked in secret poll for Biden replacements (opens wfmd.com in a new tab)
- Ex-Dem insider drops bombshell on where Harris ranked in secret poll for Biden replacements – Democratic Accent (opens democraticaccent.com in a new tab)
democraticaccent.com — is democraticaccent.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Ex-Dem insider drops bombshell on where Harris ranked in secret poll for Biden replacements (opens Fox News in a new tab)
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

