CNN Interview Entails Risk For Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), will appear on CNN at 21:00 ET on Thursday for the first unscripted media event of Harris' presidential election campaign.

• The interview will be the first opportunity for voters to see if Harris has resolved some of the communication issues that sank her 2020 primary campaign. During the 2020 campaign, Harris was criticised for an unfocused approach to policy and a failure to authoritatively balance the progressive and moderate wings of the party.
• The New York Times notes that Harris "all but went into a bunker for about a year, avoiding many interviews out of what aides said was a fear of making mistakes and disappointing [President] Biden," following an interview with NBC News in 2021 when she declared after being asked why she hasn’t visited the US-Mexico border, “I haven't been to Europe."
• Harris’ carefully choreographed election campaign has contributed to a surge in polling but has drawn sharp criticism from the Washington press pack. Although the interview entails risk, it is unlikely that Harris’ press-shy approach is sustainable in the long-term.
• A poll by Echelon Insights, found 89% of all adults agreed that it was “important for candidates to take questions.”