SAY LESS
Right-wingers and the media are pushing Kamala Harris to get more detailed about her policies and plans. But caving to that pressure may not be what voters really want — and may not even be a good idea, political strategists tell What A Day.
- Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), agreed to sit for their very first big, mainstream interview of the campaign, planning a joint appearance on CNN this Thursday evening. The announcement follows weeks of pressure from everyone in disgraced former President Trump’s orbit, and many in the media, that effectively turned Harris’ media strategy into a story of its own. They want to ask her about all sorts of things — especially the more-progressive positions she took earlier in her career and has now walked back, and to get a lot more detailed about the future policies of a Harris administration. Conservative Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) recently piled on, claiming Harris “owes the American people answers.”
- Yet some experienced political hands are doubtful that what voters really want is a bajillion-point policy plan on… just about anything. “Polling right now is proving the theory that voters are mostly post-policy at this point,” a Democratic strategist in a battleground state told What A Day. “Why would Harris want to ‘prove to voters she isn’t light on policy’ when we already know what they care about: abortion, economy, social security … If I’m Kamala Harris I don’t want or necessarily need a policy section on my website.”
- It’s not like the other side is eyeballs-deep in detailed policy briefs. Trump is both laughably vague on policy, and will change on a dime when he feels like it. The most we really know about his plans come from the infamous right-wing Project 2025 platforms, which he’s now attempting to run away from. Nobody expects him to expand on his stances at the upcoming debate. If Harris goes into the nitty-gritty on thorny issues now, she risks losing the momentum she has gained during her rapid campaign rollout, analysts say.
Yet Harris is also being pushed from within her party to be more specific about some issues, too.
- One policy topic that she’ll continue to be pressed on: U.S. policy toward Israel. Many pro-Plaestinian activists have grown increasingly frustrated with Harris since the Democratic National Convention last week, during which she delivered a speech that didn’t call out Israel’s handling of the war on Gaza that has killed some 40,000 people, according to local health authorities. So far, she has maintained the Biden administration’s stance toward the issue, refraining from calling for an arms embargo on Israel that activists believe would stop the war.
- “If she’s serious about getting the vote of a unified Democratic Party, she needs to take immediate action to achieve a cease-fire,” Hala Rharrit, a longtime State Department diplomat who resigned over Biden’s Israel policy, told What A Day. “Rhetoric is not enough — a policy shift is required. If she doesn’t, the Democratic Party will remain split and she will lose the election.”
For now, at least, Harris’ lead in the polls suggests a lot of voters feel comfortable with what they know about where she stands on the issues they care about most, like abortion and the economy… and not being batshit crazy
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