White House hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris Kamala HarrisHundreds of lawyers from nation's oldest African American sorority join effort to fight voter suppression Biden picks up endorsement from progressive climate group 350 Action 3 reasons why Biden is misreading the politics of court packing MORE (D-Calif.) dismissed concerns about former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenPelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Hillicon Valley: Subpoenas for Facebook, Google and Twitter on the cards | Wray rebuffs mail-in voting conspiracies | Reps. raise mass surveillance concerns Fox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio MORE’s significant polling lead among black primary voters, saying he is benefiting from "a high level of name recognition" and that she intends to press her case as the campaign moves forward.

“A lot of that is based on name recognition, and we’re still early in this campaign, and I’m very proud of the work that we have done,” Harris said on CNN Thursday morning, following the second Democratic presidential primary debates.

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“I am prepared to earn the vote and make my case. And when you have somebody that has been in office for decades, who was vice president under a very popular president, I would expect that people would know who he is and there would be a high level of name recognition as a result. But I am going to be out here competing.”

Biden, who has tied himself closely to his time as President Obama’s vice president, has had large leads in multiple polls of African Americans. A July Quinnipiac University national survey found that Biden had the support of 53 percent of black Democrats, while Harris sat at 7 percent.

The California Democrat has worked to chip into that base of support, hitting Biden at June’s debates over his past opposition to federally mandated busing and comments regarding his ability to work with segregationist senators while in Congress. She renewed the attacks at Wednesday night’s debate.

Harris suggested she was not concerned with polling showing strong black support for Biden, saying she is seeing enthusiasm on the ground for her campaign.

“And I’ll tell you, if you judge it by who’s showing up and the kind of support we are getting on the ground, the endorsements we are receiving, I will tell you I am fully prepared and equipped to compete on a very serious level, and I intend to win this election,” she said Thursday.