Kamala Harris sprints to Election Day in her “crunch time” media blitz

Vice President Kamala Harris’ appearance on CNN for a town hall in Pennsylvania is part of her media campaign in the final run-up to Election Day for the Democrat, who has had less than six months to introduce herself to voters in a competitive political season.

The whirlwind of visits to such locations, including the studios of CNN, Telemundo, NBC News and Fox News – and with Charlamagne tha God, co-host of the The Breakfast Club The radio show is about reaching this group of undecided voters, said Imani Cheer, associate professor of digital storytelling at George Washington University and interim senior associate provost for undergraduate education.

“It’s crunch time. This is an unprecedented moment for so many reasons. Not only is this the first Black and Asian American woman to reach these heights. It is also a shortened campaign. We haven’t had the pleasure.” “We’re moving with less than 90 days to meet her,” Cheer said Newsweek by phone on Wednesday evening.

And these media appearances — to Hispanic voters, black men and undecided Republicans — are aimed at getting those who can be persuaded to vote for her, Cheer added.

During her CNN roundtable with undecided voters in Pennsylvania, Harris alternated between tackling tough policy questions and making more poignant, personal revelations as she addressed voters’ questions.

On the topic of immigration, she gave a wordy answer when asked by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper why the Biden-Harris administration hasn’t moved more forcefully to address problems at the U.S.-Mexico border. On democracy, she leaned on her background as a prosecutor as she tried to make the case that former President Donald Trump was unfit for office.

She got personal when she spoke about the grief she felt when her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately died from it. While she is happy about their close relationship, the sadness of such a loss is profound.

“You don’t stop grieving,” Harris shared. “I think the most important thing is that people don’t suppress what they’re feeling. And the rest of us should give them the grace to get through it however they want.”

She had a similar personal moment when she shared that her pastor, Rev. Amos Brown of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, was the first person she called after President Joe Biden told her he was ending his presidential bid would. Humbled by the “gravity of the moment,” she felt she “needed that kind of spiritual connection. I needed this advice. I needed a prayer,” Harris said at a CNN town hall Wednesday night, adding the conversation with her pastor was “comforting to me.”

After the event, two of the five undecided voters CNN interviewed in a brief exit interview said they would now vote for Harris.

She experienced a similar reaction from swing voters last week during her at-times controversial meeting with Fox News host Bret Baier. According to Impact Social, an online monitoring and analytics company, 20 percent of swing voters who watched the interview had a positive opinion of the impression Harris made, while 30 percent had a negative opinion and 50 percent were neutral.

Impact Social said this “reflects an upswing” that is “likely to have a positive impact on swing voter perceptions.”

“Joining Fox was strategic and also smart,” said Cheer Newsweek. “Donald Trump has dominated Fox for the last eight years.”