Three key challenges for Kamala Harris: Biden's shadow, Trump's 'comrade' attacks and her interview problem

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris face intense scrutiny in the remaining two months of the US election campaign.

Ever since Ms Harris became the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee with Joe Biden’s historic announcement he would not seek re-election, she has enjoyed a rapid ascent in polling.

But momentum can swing quickly in an election campaign, and issues persist for both candidates – which could be crucial at their first debate on Tuesday.

A recent survey from the New York Times and Siena College puts the former president one point ahead of the vice president, at 48% to 47% respectively.

With only weeks to go until America goes to the polls, here’s a look at three key challenges for the Democratic nominee…

‘Comrade Kamala’

Republicans portray Kamala Harris as a California liberal of the hard left, a “radical left lunatic” as Donald Trump would have it.

They point to her ‘flip-flopping’ on key policy areas and insist it exposes an extreme left agenda, while raising questions of authenticity and trust.

In her effort to win the Democratic nomination in 2020, Harris took a left-leaning stance on several issues as she paid heed to her party’s progressive wing. That has changed with her political elevation.

As vice president, she duly aligned herself more centrally with the administration of the day and so modified her position on issues.

On fracking – she favoured a ban, now doesn’t; for healthcare, she backed a scheme to eliminate private insurance, now doesn’t; on illegal border crossings, she supported decriminalisation, and now doesn’t.

In a recent interview, Harris addressed her shift by saying her values hadn’t changed and her time as VP had given her a fresh perspective.

Her opponents will insist she has chosen convenience over conviction in a cynical bid to hoodwink independent, moderate voters.

Biden’s shadow

There’s a reason Joe Biden was struggling in the polls – his age didn’t help, of course, but neither did his record.

On a matter most important – the economy – he can cite improvement, having delivered on GDP, unemployment and inflation.

His difficulty is in the economic indicators more measurable and meaningful to the public – prices at the petrol pumps and in the shops – that have left Americans feeling the pinch and feeling less well off than they were four years ago.

Inflation may be falling, but prices are roughly 20% higher than they were during the COVID pandemic. As hard as the president has tried to sell “Bidenomics,” the voters aren’t buying.

In her effort to escape the shadow of economic angst, Harris has unveiled proposals she says will cut costs and is punting a populist line that casts big business and greedy landlords as the villains making life difficult.

Departing from Biden’s big picture boasting about economic wins and legislative victories, she aims to talk money in terms the voter understands and to empathise with their concerns.

The strategy needs to work for her. A CNBC survey in August found 40% of voters said they’d be better off financially under a Trump presidency compared to 21% if Harris won.

Harris’s opponents say that, as a core member of the existing government, she bears responsibility for the public’s financial woes.

They insist she will also have to answer for the record of the Biden administration as a whole – expect her to face awkward questions, too, on subjects like Afghanistan and the Israel/Hamas conflict.

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Interview problems

Kamala Harris can work a crowd.

At the Democratic National Convention and at rallies across the country, she has demonstrated a stage presence and sure-footedness that energises the faithful. She’s comfortable among friends.

There remain questions about her vulnerability in more challenging surroundings and, in a country where politics is heavy on performance, that matters.

A 2021 interview that Harris conducted with NBC’s Lester Holt is given an occasional dusting off, which doesn’t do her any favours.

On being asked about her role in investigating the root causes of immigration, she was asked the seemingly straightforward question about visiting the US southern border and the exchange unfolded thus:

Harris: “We’ve been to the border.”
Holt: “You’ve not been to the border?”
Harris: “And I haven’t been to Europe.”

It’s a brief exchange that took place three years ago and Kamala Harris has performed ably in numerous interviews since.

However, that particular interview, and its awkwardness, springs to mind after a campaign – so far – of limited exposure.

Since Joe Biden stepped down, Harris has only conducted one sit-down TV interview. Even then, it was with running mate Tim Walz by her side.

That’s one set-piece – or joint – interview in six weeks.

It would be an astonishing lack of independent scrutiny for someone bidding to be a local parish councillor, let alone president of the United States.

There remain questions unasked of Kamala Harris and the apparent reluctance to address them creates a sense of vulnerability.

The enthusiasm for a change in the ticket has shored up the Democratic vote, no doubt, but Harris needs to extend her reach to the undecideds, independents and Republicans feeling reluctant about Trump.

They need to know who she is and what she stands for. Harris has come a distance in the polls but they are starting to look sticky.

She needs the extra votes. If the TV interview is a risk, it’s one she might have to take – more than once every six weeks.

It’s one thing rolling out the teleprompted hits to the adoring masses, it’s quite another sitting down for independent interrogation.

That, perhaps more than elsewhere, is where judgement lies.