A new poll shows that a significant number of Americans are less likely to believe Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim that she worked at McDonald’s when she was in college.
The Democratic presidential has used her story of serving fries and ice cream at a franchise in Alameda, California, to bolster an image that of coming from humble roots.
But 58 percent of likely American voters expressed some doubt or outright disbelief in the claim, according to a Daily Mail/J.L. Partners poll.
Thirty-seven percent of voters said they did not believe her claim and 21 percent of voters in the poll said they were ‘unsure.’
Just 43 percent of likely American voters said they believed Harris’ claim
The survey included 1,003 likely voters and was conducted October 27-29 with a margin of error of three percent.
Former President Donald Trump campaigned extensively to question Harris’ claim of working at the nation’s biggest fast food chain, even appearing at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s to make french fries and serve food at the drive-thru window.
‘I’ve now worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala at McDonald’s,’ Trump told reporters and customers after the campaign event.
In the poll 49 percent also said that Trump’s visit to the fast food joint was ‘staged’. Another 32 percent said his shift in a Golden Arches apron was ‘genuine’ and 19 percent weren’t sure.
Despite Trump’s repeated taunting, Harris remains unable to provide any evidence to prove her claim.
The Harris campaign maintains that Harris worked at a McDonald’s location on Central Avenue in Alameda, California during the summer after her freshman year at Howard University in 1983.
Staff at the restaurant have reportedly been sworn to secrecy and when DailyMail.com contacted them to ask, an employee replied ‘no, sorry’.
The New York Times cited Wanda Kagan, a close high school friend of Harris who remains active in the campaign, as recalling Harris’ mother, now deceased, once mentioned that Harris worked at a McDonalds.
Despite Trump’s continued torment of Harris on the issue, the vice president and her team have no new information to prove her claim.
Experts noted on social media that Harris could easily access her Social Security tax records from the government to prove her employment at the location.
Social Security keeps records of tax forms for employees working in the United States, ‘from 1978 to the present’ according to the agency’s website.
McDonald’s revealed earlier this summer that they do not have records to verify Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim – but praised her ‘fond memories’ of working at the franchise location.
‘[W]e and our franchisees don’t have records for all positions dating back to the early ’80s,’ the company noted in an internal memo that was published online.
Harris first made the claim that she used to work at McDonald’s in college when protesting with workers to raise the minimum wage in 2019 when she ran for president.
‘I worked at McDonald’s, I was a student when I was working at McDonald’s,’ she said detailing on social media that she worked making fries and serving ice cream.
In April 2024, she revisited the subject with the Drew Barrymore show, revealing that she ‘did fries’ at the restaurant and that her go-to meal was a quarter pounder with cheese.
‘I did, yes I did work at McDonalds when I was at school … I did fries,’ she said. ‘I did fries and the cashier.’
‘I didn’t know that about you!’ a surprise Barrymore replied.
Harris repeated her claim briefly when a reporter shouted out a question on Monday asking her if she had ever worked there.
‘Did I? Yes, I did,’ she said before entering her vehicle.
The campaign remains unable to provide evidence to prove the vice president’s claim, such as a photo, a pay stub, or a fellow employee that can confirm her employment.
An employee said ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have any information,’ when DailyMail.com contacted the location where Harris claims to have worked on Monday to ask if Harris had ever worked at the franchise location.
A copy of her job resume she submitted after college does not include any information about her job at McDonald’s, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
The Harris campaign has used her claim about working at McDonald’s to demonstrate her working class credentials.
After weeks of mocking Harris’ claim as false, Trump visited a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania on Sunday, putting on an apron, and making several batches of fries in the kitchen.