Polls show that incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris may have won Tuesday's presidential debate on the points, but she missed an opportunity to please voters with more than run-of-the-mill policies like a federal law banning price gouging and $25,000 checks for first-time homebuyers — two things that may never come to fruition.
The Rasmussen Report asked We asked 881 voters who plan to vote on September 5th and 8th-10th, 2024, “How important is it for you that Harris gives interviews to the press?”
A whopping 78 percent said it was very (54 percent) or somewhat (24 percent) important. Only 19 percent said it was not very important (13 percent) or not at all important (6 percent).
When asked how they evaluated Harris' job “putting together concrete policy proposals,” a majority, 51 percent, answered “average” (9 percent) to “poor” (42 percent), while 47 percent said she was “very good” (25 percent) or “good” (22 percent).
The poll was conducted before Tuesday night's debate, but one of the stories that emerged from the debate was that Harris refused to answer specific questions about her policy proposals — and, if anything, the debate likely reinforced people's concerns about her lack of specificity.
As for media interviews, I wonder how much longer she can hold out with over 50 days until the election. My guess is that she would hold out indefinitely if she knew she was leading in the polls. Why wouldn't she? Why risk damaging herself? Plus, she knows the corporate media will never pressure her or make her pay a political price for avoiding them. They are her PR team.
Harris has not given a single interview alone since becoming the Democratic candidate. She only gave one interview on CNN with her running mate, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN). She doesn't even sit down with friendly media. Governor Walz has only given three interviews. This is not a basement campaign. President Joe Biden gave media interviews when he was campaigning in the basement of his home in 2020. This is more like a hermetically sealed campaign.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump's running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), is no stranger to the media. He has given dozens of interviews, many of them to hostile outlets like CNN. Trump is always available to answer questions from the media, and has given multiple hour-plus interviews to podcasters.
Harris' strategy of avoiding interviews is a risky one, but with the media on her side, she can get away with anything.
John Nolte's first and last novel Borrowed time, Winning 5-Star Rave Reviews Submissions from our everyday readers. You can read excerpts here here And a detailed review here. Also available in Hardcover and Kindle and Audiobooks.
