A distinguished Democratic pollster has defended Vice President Kamala Harris over her penchant for steering away from sit-down interviews amid criticism that she’s avoiding scrutiny of her file whereas a heartbeat away from the Oval Workplace.
Cornell Belcher brushed apart issues that Harris is giving the impression she’s scared to go off-script by declining to make herself accessible to reporters.
“She ought to be speaking to the voters and barnstorming the best way they do,” Belcher, president of Good Corners Analysis & Methods, stated throughout NBC’s “Meet the Press” panel section on Sunday. “I don’t need her speaking to you all proper now. She ought to be speaking to voters and going throughout the nation.”
Since ascending to the highest of the Democratic ticket final month, Harris has but to do a serious interview, although she has teased plans to get one “scheduled” by the month’s finish.
Harris, 59, has additionally taken a restricted quantity of on-the-record questions from reporters throughout gaggles since her ascension following President Biden’s withdrawal from the race July 21.
Former President Donald Trump has convened a number of press conferences and given scores of interviews over the previous month in an effort to throw shade at Harris.
Many Republicans imagine Harris has a historical past of creating gaffes when pressed by reporters and wish to see her grilled on proposals resembling her latest push for a federal ban on so-called “value gouging.”
They’ve additionally sought to get extra specifics from her on coverage after spokespeople for her marketing campaign declared she has reversed her 2020 marketing campaign positions on points resembling Medicare for All, fracking and unlawful immigration.
Notably, Harris’ marketing campaign web site nonetheless doesn’t checklist a complete agenda, regardless of the election being simply 10 weeks away.
Belcher’s fellow panelists contended that Harris ought to sit down with extra reporters in an effort to show that she will take the warmth and defend her positions.
“Candidates don’t want us as journalists to get their message out,” PBS anchor Amna Nawaz stated earlier than Belcher’s comment. “Interviews are the place candidates face rigor and skepticism and questions on points that they’re not elevating on the marketing campaign path and in monologue.”
“It opens it as much as a dialog in a method that’s good for voters and good for democracy,” she went on. “I’ll simply say, having been with Vice President Harris in unscripted situations, there’s coverage command there that may come out in these sort of interviews.”
Harris is scheduled to sq. off in opposition to Trump in a Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC Information in Philadelphia.
Trump has additionally pitched two further debates, to be held Sept. 4 and hosted by Fox Information and Sept. 25 to be placed on by NBC Information, however Harris has not dedicated to both of these.
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