One Election, Two Different Campaigns

Newsweek asks political scientists to break down Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump's strategies for winning the 2024 election

- JAMES BICKERTON

THEY HAVE OPPOSING POLICIES on many key election issues, and Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have even adopted substantially different strategies in their dueling bids to be voted president in November, according to a number of prominent political scientists.

The Republican candidate is said to be participating in more unscripted events, while Harris has been accused of refusing to take tough questions from the media since she replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate. The 81-year-old incumbent dropped out of the race in July amid widespread concern over his age and mental acumen.

A recent ActiVote poll gave Harris a 1.6 point lead over Trump, with 50.8 percent of the vote against his 49.2 percent, though this was within the margin of error and the Republican candidate could win with a minority of the vote thanks to the Electoral College system, as he did in 2016.

Since becoming the Democrats' White House candidate, Harris has largely avoided unscripted interviews, bar a major one with CNN's Dana Bash broadcast on August 29. The interview-which took place alongside her running mate, Governor Tim Walz-followed weeks of Republican attacks on Harris, who claimed their Democratic rival was dodging scrutiny.

By contrast, Trump has regularly partaken in unscripted interviews, though critics have suggested he strongly favors discussions with sympathetic interviewers and publications.

In the past few weeks alone, interviews with Trump have been released by Phil McGraw on his Dr. Phil Primetime show, computer scientist and Elon Musk-associated Lex Fridman, and DailyMail.​com, the website of the conservative British tabloid.

Speaking to Newsweek, Thomas Gift, who heads up the Centre on US Politics at University College London, said: "Trump participating in more unscripted events makes the contrast of Harris refusing to take tough questions from the media look all the more stark.