Harris’s lack of policy details in first TV interview ‘probably strategic’
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00:00Well, for some analysis now, let's bring in Todd Belt. He's a professor of political management at George Washington University
00:07Thank you so much for being with us here at France 24. Let's just begin with what your thoughts are on that interview
00:15Thanks. It's great to be with you again. Appreciate you having me on
00:19Certainly, this is this was the big moment that we've been waiting for so far since Kamala Harris has really dodged to the press
00:25She hasn't been
00:27Giving any interviews or doing any press conferences and we come out of the DNC the convention
00:34Wondering just exactly what does she stand for because she's spoken in such generalities
00:39She's talked about this opportunity economy
00:42She's talked about being strong against our adversaries internationally
00:46But hasn't really put the meat on the bones of exactly what her policies would be
00:51She had an opportunity to do that and I think she did a little bit but not clearly as much as she should
00:57I think that that is strategic because the more you talk about policy details
01:01the more people are able to perceive what they're going to lose in those policy details and it can cost you votes and
01:08The elections are still some time away in November
01:12But now that both the Republican and Democratic conventions have wrapped up as you mentioned
01:16How would you say the parties and their candidates are faring ahead of the election so far?
01:22Right, it's it's strange here in the United States that we have such a very very long campaign compared to other nations
01:28But two months isn't very long in our general election history
01:32we usually consider the kickoff of the campaign to be the Labor Day weekend, which we are in right now and
01:40Right now Kamala Harris is gaining in all the polls. We're seeing she's pulled to about five
01:46Percentage points nationally and in the swing states
01:49she's exceeded the margin of error in terms of pulling ahead of Donald Trump in some of those northern states like, Wisconsin and
01:58And Michigan which are absolutely crucial for her to win. She's pulled a little bit ahead in
02:03Pennsylvania if she takes those three seats those three states
02:06She'll probably win on the other hand. We see Donald Trump who is really scrambling
02:11He's trying to make sure that he doesn't lose anymore and he really wants to change things around
02:16We saw last week that he tried to make a ploy for some veterans votes by going to the Arlington ceremony
02:22But that sort of blew up in his face because he wasn't supposed to be recording there
02:27He's been trying to attack and attack Kamala, but he hasn't found the right line of attack against her yet
02:32That's really resonating with voters and staying on the same note Harris has, you know
02:37Obviously searched in the polls since becoming the Democratic candidate as you said and she's really managed to shore up support and donations
02:45But now the question is can she maintain the momentum, isn't it?
02:50Yeah, it's really crucial that she does of course the groups where she's really been increasing in terms of her
02:57Her numbers are with young voters and voters of color and those were exactly the groups that Joe Biden was really struggling with and by
03:05The way were the groups that really helped him win the White House back in 2020 now she needs to maintain them
03:11She's got the energy. She's got the momentum, but you need to continue that
03:15She has the money to do the advertising. She needs to make sure that she's able to talk strategically
03:21About that. We saw her try to have things both ways on the Israel issue
03:25She knows that she doesn't want to alienate certain groups, especially young people for whom that is a big issue
03:30But she's got a tremendous money advantage right now
03:33It's about five to one and she's gonna put that in states that she doesn't need
03:37But Donald Trump absolutely has to have to win like North Carolina and Georgia
03:43So right now I would say that the Harris campaign is on the offensive and the Trump campaign is on the defensive
03:49Right, and let's talk about Donald Trump a little bit because you know after the assassination attempt in July
03:54He really seemed like he had the the wind in his sails, but that fizzled a bit after Harris's nomination
04:01Is there a possibility for him and the Republicans to stage a strong comeback?
04:06It's always possible. We never say never in politics
04:09In fact, we have a saying in the United States called the October surprise
04:13Which is something that happens in October right before the election that can swing things one way or another
04:19we saw that Hillary Clinton was leading Donald Trump pretty significantly and then we had the James Comey reopen the
04:27Investigation into her emails and then in the last week the undecideds broke two to one for Donald Trump
04:32There's not a whole lot of undecideds anymore, though
04:35You've got Donald Trump people know who he is
04:37They had four years of his governance
04:40You have somebody like Kamala Harris who really hasn't said what she is trying to pick and choose what she wants from the Biden
04:45administration certainly the most popular points and
04:48You know, we're gonna see that like what what I'm saying is there's fewer voters to push one way or another
04:53So the likelihood of a comeback it's not out of reach but but it's gonna be difficult
04:59All right, and there are so many pressing issues on the agenda at the moment
05:04Obviously from the war in Gaza and Ukraine to domestic policies as well
05:08What are some of the key issues on voters minds in this election?
05:13Right. It's always the economy
05:15The economy is always the number one issue in every single election and that's absolutely the case this time around
05:21We see Harris trying to take claim for the low unemployment and the growth rate
05:26Which has been good and not talk so much about inflation
05:29She is acknowledging that there is inflation and she wants to bring down the price of things like groceries and housing
05:35But you know the issue of inflation always works to Republicans favor if we ask people who do they trust more with inflation?
05:42They usually say the Republicans and right now they're saying Donald Trump on that issue
05:45So that's gonna be number one and then you have these other issues as what we call them
05:49Ancillary issues that each side is going to try to push to to try to get those
05:55Middle-of-the-road voters and also to activate their base to make sure they show up for Democrats
06:00Abortion has been a big winner in the past two election cycles expect them to really lean hard into that
06:05And they'll also talk about the threat that Donald Trump is to democracy for the Republicans
06:10They're gonna lean hard into crime and immigration
06:12Those are things that really catapulted Donald Trump to the to the presidency in 2016
06:17He hasn't given that up as his signature issue. Of course, he build the wall was his motto
06:22We'll see him leaning those two as well