Harris media blitz aimed at connecting with younger white voters, Trump supporters, expert says

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00:00Camilla Harris has changed her media strategy somewhat. She's been seen sharing a can of

00:09beer with a talk show host. She's also been heard on a show of a notorious radio shock

00:13jock.

00:14With just four weeks to go, it's her last chance for voters to get to know her better.

00:23Cracking open a can of lager on Stephen Colbert's talk show, Vice President Harris continued

00:28her week-long high-profile media blitz. Over on Howard Stern's radio show, whose listenership

00:34skews white and male, she took a mix of more hardline questions on policy, but also showed

00:39her personality.

00:40Listen, I've been the first woman in almost every position I've had. So I believe that

00:47men and women support women in leadership. And that's been my life experience and that's

00:53why I'm running for president.

00:55In a bid to reach every demographic, her string of appearances has included non-traditional

00:59outlets, like the Call Her Daddy podcast, a Gen Z and millennial fan favourite with

01:04Spotify's biggest female listenership.

01:07Unfortunately, Camilla Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble. How does that

01:12make you feel?

01:13I don't think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who, one, are

01:21not aspiring to be humble.

01:23However, critics have argued that Harris is still introducing herself this close to the

01:27election and accuse her of being unable to align herself from Joe Biden's administration.

01:33Would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four

01:37years?

01:39There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of, and I've been a part of most of

01:45the decisions that have had impact.

01:48Harris eventually clarified that unlike Biden, she plans to put a Republican in her cabinet.

01:54With seven battleground states up for grabs and polls continuing to show a tight race,

01:58the interview burst is intended to hit a large portion of the media spectrum and dispel criticism

02:04about her infrequent engagement with the mainstream media.

02:08So what do we make of this? Let's bring in the problem solver, Dr Rene Karr, media psychologist,

02:12political advisor. Dr Rene, thank you for joining us here on France 24. We appreciate

02:16your time. The floor is yours. What do you make of this move by Kamala Harris?

02:21Thank you for having me. Well, it's definitely strategic in that she's trying to, as soon

02:26as possible, with this huge crunch of time, to get more people to know her and also to

02:31attract and connect with individuals who previously had no desire to know her, which would include

02:37younger individuals, which also would include younger white males and would also include

02:42very strong Trump supporters who are now questioning either his mental stability or

02:49his fitness of duty to run for office and also be president again.

02:54What does it reveal about Kamala Harris, though, deciding to do what she's doing right now

02:57the way she did? The drinking of the beer, the appearance of Howard Stern, for instance.

03:01Well, I think that the drinking of the beer, I think the Howard Stern, you know, she curses

03:06a lot, she drinks beer, she shoots guns. So that's really who she is. But she's had to

03:12be more of a political persona as the vice president. So being able to be herself is

03:18actually working for her and being able to embrace that, show that on these different

03:23platforms of different demographics so that she can connect with people with who she authentically

03:28is. So it is working for her, being able to connect with more people.

03:32So she's making this change to kind of open more doors. Is that basically it?

03:36Yes. Yes.

03:38Do you think those doors will open for her? Because people get quite entrenched with

03:42political voting, don't they? They see things one way, they seldom change.

03:47Yeah. So that would be a factor of cognitive dissonance. So if there are individuals who

03:52completely hated her and completely hated the Biden administration, then it will make her

03:57maybe seem more likable, but won't significantly change their voting for her or for, you know,

04:05anyone against Trump. However, if they were on the fence, then it will make some headway

04:09because people will see a more positive light of her, get a glimpse of knowing her more intimately,

04:14and that may change people who are more on the fence. Not anyone who's been a Trump,

04:19you know, a very strong Trump supporter. That won't make much difference.

04:22Indeed. The Trump fans, the Trump supporters, no matter what he said, cling to Donald Trump,

04:29don't they? Because he said enough things that might have turned anybody else away from a

04:34candidate, but it doesn't appear to work with him. It's a different set of rules, isn't it?

04:39Yeah, it's also a different mindset. So if you are so committed to being with someone,

04:45then again, through cognitive dissonance, meaning I'm committed to believing this person,

04:50even if the facts don't line up. And so with Trump, he repeatedly has facts that do not line

04:56up, repeatedly gives misinformation. But if you believe one lie, then you have to be willing to

05:01accept the other lie and the other lie. So then you can then justify believing the first lie.

05:07So they'll be more likely to stick to their original belief of I'm going to believe Trump,

05:12whatever, then they are more likely to then go against that belief,

05:16because that would cause more psychological discomfort to disagree suddenly.

05:20What you're describing, Dr. Renee, almost sounds like a cult.

05:23Yeah.

05:27I don't mean to be controversial, but it almost sounds like a cult, doesn't it?

05:30Yeah, but that is how cults began. You manipulate the mindset of an individual and then belong to

05:37a group of individuals who have groupthink. And then groupthink phenomenon then encourages them

05:42to not only continue thinking the same way, but also behaving the same way, which is cult-like

05:48behavior.

05:49Now, how brave was Kamala Harris to do what she did? Because sometimes these kind of,

05:55I'll call it a stunt, sometimes these kind of stunts backfire, don't they?

05:59Yeah. I mean, as far as drinking the beer?

06:02Yeah, yeah.

06:05I don't really think it was brave. I think that just by being the Kamala is Brad and the coconut

06:12memes, I think that the drinking beer, sending she shoots guns, I think that all of that is

06:17trying to make her more relatable to wider range of audiences. It is brave. But if you also look at

06:24how she was as the vice president, she was more sterile and more being a vice president. So she

06:31was submitting to the authority of President Biden and she was following what he believed

06:37and she was presenting the message as a vice president. But now that she's going to be herself,

06:42then I think that she's able to be herself, not following anyone else's leadership.

06:47So I think it's brave that she's willing to be authentic more so than being political by

06:53maintaining a persona as vice president that wasn't how she truly was for the majority of her

06:59career.

07:00Dr. Renee Carr, thank you very much for joining us. I do hope you will join us again for more

07:04discussions about how this campaign is going. A pleasure having you here on France 24.

07:08Thank you very much indeed. We will continue, of course,

07:11to chart all developments of the campaign between now and voting day, November the 5th.

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