Harris launches media interview blitz as polls show her tied with Trump | News about the 2024 US election

Vice President Kamala Harris has stepped up her media appearances, giving interviews to media outlets large and small to attract voters in the final weeks of the US presidential campaign.

The Democratic nominee continued her media offensive on Tuesday, granting interviews to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, talk show The View and veteran broadcaster Howard Stern – who was once a friend of former President Donald Trump.

Early in her presidential campaign, Harris was criticized for not making a major media appearance.

She announced her candidacy for president on July 21 and more than a month later, on August 29, she gave her first television interview since beginning her campaign.

This gap led to scrutiny of their media strategy. Veteran media critic Margaret Sullivan, for example, wrote in The Guardian newspaper that Harris had a duty to tell the US public what she stood for “in an unwritten and open way.”

“Harris should show that she understands that in a democracy, at least in theory, the press represents the public and that the sometimes adversarial relationship between the press and government is fundamental,” Sullivan said.

Polls have also shown that voters want to know more about the Democratic candidate.

A September poll by Siena College and The New York Times found that up to 28 percent of likely voters felt they wanted to know more about Harris.

Harris’ campaign team responded to the criticism with a whirlwind of media appearances last week. She is currently in a tough race with Trump, the Republican candidate, ahead of the November 5 election.

Harris’ sprint across networks and platforms on Tuesday included her first live solo interview with The View.

In her speech to the all-female talk show panel, Harris closely aligned herself with outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden. Harris replaced Biden as the party’s nominee after concerns about his age and abilities led him to step down.

Harris told The View she was unable to name a decision she would have made differently than Biden.

“We are obviously two different people,” Harris said, adding, “I will bring that sensitivity to my leadership.”

When pressed on where she might have diverged from Biden if she had been in charge, Harris said, “I can’t think of anything.”

Harris’ appearance with radio host Stern brought with it another first: Media critics believe it will be her longest uninterrupted interview since she became the Democratic candidate.

As she spoke with Stern, Harris took shots at Trump, who had publicly argued with the radio host.

At one point, she and Stern discussed Trump’s refusal to say he would accept the results of the 2024 election even if he lost.

Stern mimicked the former president, saying, “‘If I win, it’s a fair election. If I lose, Kamala Harris and her friends have fixed the problem.'” He summed up this viewpoint by saying, “This is delusional.”

“In America we call that a sore loser,” Harris replied.

Trump was a regular guest on the shock jock’s radio show in the 1990s and 2000s and used it to boost his fame in the New York tabloids.

He once told Stern that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases was his “personal Vietnam.”

Harris appeals to Republicans

Tuesday’s cavalry of interviews followed a high-profile interview Monday with 60 Minutes, the nation’s oldest television newsmagazine.

On 60 Minutes, Harris suggested that a number of Republicans agreed with her views, particularly on economic issues.

“You know, if you talk to a lot of people in Congress calmly, they know exactly what I’m talking about because their constituents know exactly what I’m talking about; Your constituents are firefighters, teachers and nurses,” she said.

Her appearance on 60 Minutes was supposed to be half of a campaign special: The news show had also invited Trump for an interview, and he accepted.

However, according to a statement from the newsmagazine, Trump withdrew from the interview shortly before it was scheduled to be recorded.

“It has been a tradition for more than half a century for the major party candidates for president to sit down with 60 Minutes in October,” host Scott Pelley said in a statement.

Pelley said the Trump team offered “varying explanations” for the cancellation, including objecting to scrutiny of his statements on television.

“Trump has said that his opponent won’t give interviews because she can’t handle it. “He previously declined to have another debate with Harris,” Pelley said Monday.

“So tonight may have been the biggest audience for the candidates until Election Day.”

What’s more important is hitting the battleground states

Polls suggest the race between Harris and Trump is extremely close.

According to polling website FiveThirtyEight, Harris is currently at 48.6 percent nationally and Trump is at 45.9 percent, a difference that is within the margin of error. The polls for nearly half a dozen swing states — like Wisconsin and Georgia — are similarly close.

Political analysts speculated that the Harris campaign initially focused on hitting these battleground states with rallies and tours rather than giving media interviews.

After all, she and her fellow campaigner Tim Walz enjoyed great public enthusiasm in the weeks after their ticket was announced.

But as the novelty wore off, both Harris and Walz turned to media appearances to maintain their momentum.

This week, for example, Harris recorded a session of the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper, who has a large following on social media: two million people follow the podcast on Instagram alone.

Considered the most popular podcast for women in America, Call Her Daddy gave Harris a platform to talk about how voters are “frustrated and just exhausted with politics in general.”

“Why should we trust you?” Cooper asked.

“You can look at my career to see what I care about,” Harris replied.

She added: “I care about making sure people are entitled to and receive the freedoms they deserve. “It’s important to me to lift people up and ensure they are safe from harm .”

A tracking poll by the website FiveThirtyEight this week showed Harris at 48.6 and Trump at 45.9, a margin of error difference. The polls for the half dozen swing states are similarly close.