Vice President Kamala Harris‘ appearance on CNN for a town hall in Pennsylvania is part of her media blitz in the final run-up to Election Day for the Democrat who has had less than six months in a competitive political season to introduce herself to voters.
The whirlwind of visits to such places including the studios of CNN, Telemundo, NBC News and Fox News—and with Charlamagne tha God, co-host of the The Breakfast Club radio show—is all about trying to reach that sliver 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 who was able to rise to this height. But also this is an abbreviated campaign. We didn’t have the pleasure of a year. We’re moving with less than 90 days to get to know her,” Cheer told Newsweek via phone on Wednesday night.
And those media appearances—before Spanish-speaking voters, Black men, along with Republicans who are still undecided—aim to shift those who can be convinced to cast ballots for her, Cheer added.
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During her CNN town hall with undecided voters in Pennsylvania, Harris moved between addressing tough policy questions and more poignant, personal revelations as she addressed voters’ questions.
On immigration, she gave a wordy response when pressed by CNN host Anderson Cooper on why the Biden-Harris administration didn’t move more forcefully to address issues on the U.S.-Mexico border. On democracy, she leaned into her prosecutorial background in trying to present 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, fell ill to and eventually died from cancer. While she rejoices at their close relationship, the sadness of such a loss is profound.
“You don’t stop grieving,” Harris shared. “The most important thing is, I think that, people do not suppress what they’re feeling at any moment. And the rest of us should give them grace to go through it as they will.”
She shared a similar personal moment when she shared that her pastor, the Rev. Amos Brown, of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, was the first person she called after President Joe Biden told her that he was ending his presidential bid. Humbled by the “the gravity of the moment,” she felt she “needed that spiritual, kind of, connection. I needed that advice. I needed a prayer,” Harris said at a CNN town hall on Wednesday night, adding that the conversation with her pastor was “comforting for me.”
After the event, two of the five undecided voters interviewed by CNN during a quick exit conversation said they would now vote for Harris.
She experienced a similar response from swing voters during her at times contentious sit-down with Fox News host Bret Baier last week. According to Impact Social, an online monitoring and analysis company, 20 percent of swing voters watching the interview felt positively about the impression left by Harris, while 30 percent had a negative view and 50 percent were neutral.
Impact Social said this “reflects an uptick” that “will likely have a positive influence on swing voter perception.”
“Going on Fox was strategic and also smart,” Cheer told Newsweek. “Donald Trump has dominated Fox for the past eight years.”
