OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who has given just one pre-taped, 18-minute interview since becoming the de facto Democratic presidential nominee in July, plans to ramp up her media presence with a series of local and national interviews in the coming weeks, according to a campaign memo obtained by The New York Times.
While Harris has largely avoided sit-down interviews and press conferences for the past 50 days, her campaign appears to be shifting strategies after Tuesday night’s presidential debate. Although several media outlets declared Harris the winner based on polls and focus groups, others, including Reuters and The Times, found pro-Trump results.
Additionally, many polls and focus groups of undecided voters and independents showed favorable outcomes for Trump, with both key demographics preferring his responses on issues like the economy and illegal immigration.
According to the memo, Harris plans to participate in several interviews with local news stations in key battleground states, as well as with national outlets, as the election campaign enters its final phase.
“While Ms. Harris’s top aides are thrilled with her debate showing and Mr. Trump’s inability to push consistent and coherent attacks, they are looking to tweak their strategy only around the edges,” The Times reported.
“The next steps, close advisers say, are ramping up her visibility on the campaign trail, including retail politicking in communities, increased press appearances, and putting herself in front of as many voters as possible in battleground states. Aides believe that at its heart, the race is unchanged,” the outlet noted further.
Harris’ camp is also pushing for a second debate against Trump, but he appears to have already quashed that effort. Trump was initially noncommittal, but by Thursday afternoon, he had fully rejected the idea of a second debate.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH,’” Trump posted on his Truth Social account. “Polls clearly show that I won the Debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a Second Debate.”
Trump went on to say that Harris and “Crooked Joe” Biden have “destroyed our country, with millions of criminals and mentally deranged people pouring into the USA, totally unchecked and unvetted, and with Inflation bankrupting our Middle Class.”
“Everyone knows this, and all of the other problems caused by Kamala and Joe — it was discussed in great detail during the First Debate with Joe, and the Second Debate with Comrade Harris,” Trump added.
Trump took part in a town hall on Fox News on September 4, following an invitation from the network for both the former president and Harris to debate. “She was a no-show at the Fox Debate, and refused to do NBC & CBS,” Trump continued. “Kamala should focus on what she should have done during the last almost four year period.” He added in all caps: “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”
This comes as CNN anchor Anderson Cooper rained on the parade of Harris, who has been touting her recent polling success.
The anchor appeared on “The Late Show,” where he spoke to host Stephen Colbert and said he does not believe in the polls he has seen.
“One of the big stories out there right now is the polling bump for Harris following the debate. Now, I don’t know whether to trust polls. We were supposed to trust them in 2016 and they were wrong. In 2020, they were pretty wrong,” the host said.
“Trump has traditionally underperformed in these polls,” the CNN anchor correctly said.
“So, how do you approach polls? There’s polling and there’s trends. How do you approach what’s going on in the polling. Do you care?” the quizzical host said.
“I’ve reported them. I think they’re interesting to talk about and look at and particularly when you deep dive on certain subjects like who seems to, you know, what trend line you live in —” the anchor said before being interrupted.
“You’re looking at the crosstabs is what you’re saying?” Colbert said.
“Yes. You know, we have some great people who look at polls, but in truth, just deep down inside, I don’t think I buy them. Like, I just don’t. It’s like — I’m sure some are accurate. I’m not casting aspersions,” the CNN anchor said.
“Please start your report like, ‘we’ve got some polls and, frankly, who the f**k knows,’ but we’ll do it, we’ll do it,” the late-night host said before his guest compared polling to seeing baby pigeons.
“It’s baby pigeons,” he said of accurate polls. “They exist. I haven’t seen them [but] they exist.”
