Vice President Kamala Harris sought to help voters get to know her better by sitting for a number of interviews over the past few days—but things have not quite gone to plan.
Harris has attracted criticism for largely avoiding giving sit-down interviews to mainstream media, and the tough questions that come with them, since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Her media blitz, which included appearances on CBS’ 60 Minutes and Late Show With Stephen Colbert and ABC’s The View, as well as Howard Stern’s radio show and Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, is an effort to reach as many undecided voters as possible with four weeks to go before Election Day.
Polls show that the race between Harris and former President Donald Trump remains incredibly close. Newsweek has contacted the Harris and Trump campaigns on Wednesday for comment via email.
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“This week showed why Harris’s staff was previously shielding her from doing impromptu interviews with the media,” Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, told Newsweek.
“To put it charitably, answering adversarial questions on the fly isn’t her strong suit. Republicans (and even some journalists) were piling on Harris for previously not doing any sit-down interviews. Right now, her inner circle is likely wishing Harris had continued to take the heat for that, rather than facing the wave of criticism that’s hit her this week.”
In a 60 Minutes interview that aired Monday, Harris faced tough questions on a number of topics, including immigration, the economy and the Middle East.
In a tense moment, Harris was asked if she regretted the Biden administration’s early decision to loosen immigration policies, given that it led to an influx of migrants. She defended the administration’s approach, saying: “It’s a long-standing problem, and solutions are at hand, and from Day One, literally, we have been offering solutions.”
Her presidential challenger was also invited to sit for an interview with 60 Minutes, but CBS News said the Trump campaign later backed out. The Republican’s spokesman Steven Cheung denied that he had ever agreed to be interviewed on 60 Minutes.
On Tuesday, Harris’ appearance on The View showed that even appearances on friendlier shows can be tricky to navigate.
Asked how she would be different from Biden, Harris said, “we’re obviously two different people,” and she then struggled to identify a single situation where she would have acted differently. “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” the vice president added.
Republicans have seized on that response, with Trump on social media calling it her “dumbest answer so far” and saying she “was being exposed as a ‘dummy’ every time she does a show.”
Later on in the show, Harris identified something she would do differently to the president she has served under for four years, saying that she would put a Republican in her Cabinet.
Her answer demonstrated the difficulty that Harris has faced in portraying herself as a candidate who can deliver change for Americans since entering the race less than three months ago while also remaining loyal to Biden. Hours before the show, a New York Times/Siena poll had found she was more likely than Trump to represent change.
Chris Cillizza, a political commentator, called Harris’ answer “an unforced error” that could be detrimental to her campaign, given that a majority of Americans do not approve of Biden’s handling of issues such as immigration and the economy.
“In a single sentence, she, on camera, owned every policy Biden has pushed over the last four years,” Cillizza wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “It’s a ready-made TV ad for Donald Trump. A gift. And it’s an unforced error by Harris. One she can’t have in this final month with the race so close.”
Harris was asked a similar question during a taping of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which aired on Tuesday night.
Asked what the major changes would be if she were elected president, Harris avoided giving specifics.
“I’m obviously not Joe Biden, so that would be one change,” she said, then added that she is also not Trump.
Meanwhile, Harris’ appearance on Call Her Daddy, which is popular with young women and known for its frank discussions about sex and relationship, sparked a backlash on social media.
Cooper, the podcast’s host, lost followers after the interview was posted online on Sunday. Some listeners accused her of peddling propaganda for the Democratic Party and were critical that the administration’s response to Hurricane Helene wasn’t discussed, while others said they did not want to see political content from her.
