This week, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump gave a series of interviews, ostensibly trying to make a final push for undecided voters in closing days of the 2024 presidential campaign.
While Harris sat with Fox’s Brett Baier, Trump spoke to the Economic Club of Chicago and hosted an all-female town hall in Georgia with Fox’s Harris Faulkner.
However, with both candidates appearing equally defensive and combative, it is unlikely that either Harris or Trump moved the needle.
Indeed, with very few exceptions, Harris and Trump avoided outlining clear plans for their presidency, and spent more time attacking each other than making a case for their own presidency.
Trump, who kicked off the media blitz at the Economic Club of Chicago, spent the majority of his speech sparring with Bloomberg’s John Micklethwait over his tariff-heavy agenda and the impact it could have on the American economy.
Pressed on his economic plans, Trump resorted to personal attacks, rather than attempting to defend or even explain them.
Speaking to Micklethwait, who argued that Trump’s tariffs would throttle the economy, the former president said, “It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs as being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong.”
Given the importance of the economy in this election – 39% of registered voters say it’s the most important issue to their vote per a Fox News poll – Trump likely would have swayed more voters had he clearly explained why his economic plan would benefit the country, rather than appearing combative.
After Chicago, Trump hosted an all-female town hall in Georgia, an attempt to improve his support among women, who back Harris by a 9-point margin (54% to 45%) according to CBS News polling.
Here, speaking to an overwhelmingly pro-Trump crowd, Trump came the closest to outlining a substantive case for electing him, particularly on energy, abortion, IVF, crime, and immigration.
The former president reiterated his plan to drastically increase domestic energy production as a way to lower the overall cost of living, reiterated his support for IVF, and pledged to “restore normalcy” in our immigration system by ending sanctuary cities.
That being said, the majority of the hour-long town hall was spent criticizing the Biden-Harris administration and rehashing Trump’s first term. He did not stray too far from his previously-stated positions, and its unlikely that a significant number of undecided female voters were swayed by anything Trump said.
For her part, VP Harris sat with Fox’s Bret Baier on Wednesday for the toughest interview of her campaign.
Clearly hoping to woo disaffected Republicans as well as push back against criticism that Harris has only done interviews with friendly journalists, the interview was rocky from the start, as her and Baier frequently clashed.
When not talking over each other, Harris and Bret Baier clashed over the Biden-Harris’ administration’s record, largely focusing on immigration and crime.
Similar to Trump’s interviews this week, Harris was largely on the defensive, sticking to her common talking points, particularly on immigration.
Pressed on why the administration didn’t tackle the chaos at the border sooner, Harris continually dodged, repeating that Donald Trump torpedoed a bipartisan bill earlier this year.
Moreover, throughout the interview, Harris sidestepped questions about policy and how she’d approach the challenges facing the country and preferred to try and draw contrasts between her personal character and that of Donald Trump.
Unfortunately for Harris, Trump is a known commodity at this point in his political career. Voters know what they are getting with him, but are still unsure about Harris.
At least 6-in-10 voters are unsure of where Harris stands on the war in the Middle East (65%), U.S. foreign policy generally (62%), and illegal immigration (60%), according to Pew Research.
This interview could have been an opportunity for Harris to address those voters and outline her plans for the country, yet she was on the defensive throughout the night.
To be sure, Harris did unveil something new in her attempt to put some daylight between her and President Biden, saying, “my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.”
Republicans had seized on Harris’ refusal to say she’d have done anything different than Biden has during an appearance on “The View” last week, and Harris clearly sought to address those attacks.
But even here, Harris offered few specifics other than pointing to her representing a younger generation who hasn’t spent the majority of her career in Washington, and who sees issues like housing and the economy in a different light.
Ultimately, neither Trump nor Harris likely made any impact on their election chances during their respective media-blitzes this week. Neither candidate outlined clear plans for the country or detailed policies to address the challenges facing the country.
In an election that figures to be extremely close, both candidates would have benefitted from communicating with the American people, particularly undecided voters in the campaign’s final days.
And yet, neither moved the needle.
Douglas Schoen is a longtime Democratic political consultant.
