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A recent flurry of media appearances and interviews by Vice President Kamala Harris is a “wise” move that could help the Democrat defeat former President Donald Trump in November, according to political analysts.
Harris, who faced heavy criticism for a paucity of major interviews in the weeks after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her, has suddenly ramped up her appearances on television, radio and podcasts with less than one month to go before Election Day.
Over the past week, the vice president has sat for interviews with 60 Minutes, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The View, Howard Stern’s radio show and the popular podcast Call Her Daddy. Additional interviews and appearances are likely coming soon.
While the Harris media blitz has so far been met with mixed reviews and some have suggested that it may be coming too “late,” a number of political scientists told Newsweek via email responses that the vice president was adopting the right strategy during the election’s home stretch.
Ashley Moraguez, co-chair and associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina Asheville, said the “current media blitz is the right strategic move” for Harris even though she might have “benefitted from doing a greater number of media appearances sooner.”
“With just a few weeks left until Election Day, a lot of previously less attentive voters will likely start tuning at this point in the cycle,” Moraguez told Newsweek. “Harris is appealing to several critical demographic groups separately, including older, women, Latino, and younger voters.”
“She is also engaging in a mix of traditional and non-traditional media, meeting (potential) voters where they are in terms of receiving their news,” she added. “I think this is very savvy at this point in the election.
During a CNN appearance on Tuesday night, former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin, a co-host of The View, suggested that Harris “should have” increased her appearances earlier but suggested that “going for broke” is now the right strategy for the vice president’s campaign.
“It’s about reaching voters who maybe aren’t glued to every detail of this election,” Griffin said. “I thought it was brilliant she went on Call Her Daddy, that’s you know, 5 million downloads a week… They’re going for broke at this point.”
“I think she should have deployed this strategy over a month ago to be reaching more voters,” she added. “It feels like it’s little bit late, but I expect she’s gonna keep doing this.”
University of Dayton political science professor Christopher Devine told Newsweek that Harris was “wise to begin making more media appearances of late,” while adding that “her reticence to do so throughout the earlier stages of the campaign made it seem as if she was somewhat afraid to face tough questions or make mistakes.”
“Of course, many of Harris’s recent appearances have been with relatively friendly, or less hard-hitting, interviewers—much like Donald Trump has appeared on Fox News and right-leaning podcasters,” Devine said. “But, unlike Trump, Harris agreed to face tougher questioning on 60 Minutes.”
“I think it will help Harris to increase her public presence,” he continued. “Harris’ goal in these media appearances should be not just to make herself more likable to the American people, but to provide information about her as a candidate and potential president. She seems to be doing that so far.”
University of Kentucky political science professor D. Stephen Voss argued that Harris making more appearances was “a mobilization strategy, not a persuasion strategy” of the Democratic nominee, pointing out that “October usually is dedicated to mobilizing supporters rather than winning over new ones.”
“Almost everyone persuadable has already been persuaded, and the rest are too hard to reach,” Voss told Newsweek. “Harris is focusing on media likely to be consumed by the Democratic Party’s natural supporters.”
“This flurry of media activity is more about maintaining enthusiasm on the Democratic side than it is about persuading doubters,” he added.