More than three quarters of likely voters said Vice President Kamala Harris should be giving more media interviews, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll released Friday.
Harris has given just one major media interview since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democrat ticket in late July, and that was to CNN on Aug. 29 with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at her side.
The survey of 881 likely voters was conducted Sept. 5 and Sept. 8-10, and it showed 78% believed it’s important for Harris to give interviews to the news media, including 54% who said it’s very important. Only 19% didn’t think it’s important. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
Democrats (38%) were less likely than Republicans (64%) or voters not affiliated with either major party (52%) to say it is very important for Harris to give interviews to the news media.
Harris’ access to the media is a stark contrast to her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, who has given several news conferences in recent weeks and has been more forward with expressing his policy ideas.
Although Harris’ campaign plans more media access — she sat down for an interview with a Philadelphia TV station while campaigning in western Pennsylvania on Friday — it has no plans to fundamentally alter the strategy, which is to minimize interactions with the media, NBC News reported Thursday.
Just 47% of voters believe Harris has done a good or excellent job in terms of outlining her specific policy ideas since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, and 42% said Harris has done a poor job of outlining her policies.
More men (62%) than women (47%) consider it very important for Harris to give media interviews. Men (46%) were also more likely than women (39%) to say Harris has done a poor job of outlining her policy ideas.
Majorities of white (54%), Black (54%) and Hispanic (54%) voters believe it’s very important for Harris to give interviews. Black (58%) and Hispanic (57%) voters also rated Harris as doing a good or excellent job of outlining her policy ideas, while just 43% of white voters agreed.
Although 74% of self-identified conservatives, as well as 49% of moderates, said it is very important for Harris to give interviews to the news media, just 26% of liberals agreed.