Drafting off the surge in positive coverage that began when she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket nearly a month ago, Kamala Harris enters the Democratic National Convention with the support of nearly half of all Americans, a marked increase since her days as an unpopular vice president and a significant improvement over Biden’s popularity as a candidate.

Harris has seen a steady rise in her favorability ratings since Biden withdrew in the wake of his disastrous debate performance against former president Donald Trump. That trend continues with an Associated Press poll released Monday which found that 48 percent of Americans have a somewhat or very positive view of the vice president. That number is up from 39 percent at the beginning of summer, when Biden was still in the race.

Harris is now performing better than Biden, of whom 38 percent of respondents at the time said they have a favorable opinion. Harris is also outpacing Trump, who has a 41 percent favorability rating in the new poll.

While a higher plurality of Americans favor Harris over Trump, 45 percent view her unfavorably and 6 percent say they don’t know enough about her to form an opinion. In June, 49 percent viewed the vice president unfavorably and 12 percent said they didn’t know enough about her.

Harris has generated excitement among Democrats, who grew increasingly skeptical of Biden, since she entered the race last month, despite refusing to hold any press conferences or sit for any unscripted interviews. The AP-NORC poll reflects that enthusiasm, with 83 percent of Democrats saying they like the new nominee. An overwhelming majority of Republicans (87 percent) dislike Harris, while an equal share of independents (40 percent) like and dislike Harris.

Meanwhile, exactly half of independents view Trump unfavorably and 80 percent of Republicans have a favorable opinion of him.

Further breaking down the poll’s findings into racial and gender demographics, Harris polls the strongest among black adults (67 percent) and women (52 percent). White and Hispanic adults view Harris and Trump similarly, with approval ratings ranging from 43 to 46 percent for each group, but 69 percent of black adults view the former president unfavorably.

As Harris garners slightly higher support among Democrats, independents, women, and young adults under age 30, she has not seen much movement from black or Hispanic adults nationwide since June. The Harris campaign intends to mobilize both constituencies by November, in part, by launching a WhatsApp channel to court Latino voters. Last week, Harris visited Philadelphia to energize black voters in the city.

The poll’s findings come on the first day of the DNC in Chicago, where party delegates will rally behind Harris for the Democratic nomination in a ceremonial vote following a virtual roll-call vote late last month. At the time, Harris officially clinched the nomination and is expected to receive the same amount of support at the convention.

Though she has gained momentum after launching her campaign and announcing Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate, Harris has received pushback from the anti-Israel faction within her own party.

Earlier this month, Harris was interrupted by Gaza protesters calling for a cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war on two separate occasions while delivering her campaign speeches in Michigan and Arizona. Harris scolded protesters for shouting during her speech in Detroit. But by the second interruption which occurred in Phoenix, she responded less forcefully, saying “now is the time” for a cease-fire and hostage deal.

Despite pushing for a cease-fire, Harris does not support an arms embargo to force Israel’s hand. Her stance on the issue has drawn the ire of the pro-Palestinian Uncommitted National Movement, which organized Michigan primary voters to cast ballots for “uncommitted” in protest of Biden’s policy on Israel. The movement is now aiming its focus toward Harris.

Though most of the delegates are expected to nominate Harris, 30 delegates representing the uncommitted movement will be advocating for an end to the war in Gaza. The small number of uncommitted delegates will not endorse Harris until she supports an arms embargo on Israel.