(NewsNation) —As former President Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance hits the campaign trail, he’s also been hitting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris with criticism over not answering more questions from the media.
Since it was announced that current president Joe Biden was dropping out of the 2024 election, Harris has been campaigning hard, and doing nine different events since she became the new Democratic nominee. This includes “swing state” cities like Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Houston, Pittsfield, Atlanta and Houston.
However, what she hasn’t done yet are any press conferences or sit-down interviews, giving reporters a chance to ask her questions. Trump, meanwhile, has done at least five interviews — three with Fox News, another with the New York Post, and one at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention — and also held four rallies.
Vance noted this discrepancy as he took questions from the media in Wisconsin, saying he wanted to “say hello to the journalists who are traveling along with the Vice President because I figured they must be lonely, because Kamala Harris doesn’t take any questions.”
“I think it’s really disgraceful, both for Kamala Harris, but also for a lot of the American media that participate in this stuff, to have a person who has been the presumptive nominee of the Democrat party for 17 days and refuses to take a single question from the American media,” Vance said.
Kamala Harris polling better than Biden did
Although she’s gotten slammed by Republicans for it, the campaign doesn’t seem to be feeling pressure to do more media.
One reason could be Harris’ rising poll numbers: she closed the gap formerly between Biden and Trump significantly. The Cook Political report says since Harris became the nominee, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada moved from leaning red to becoming toss-ups.
A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey found Harris is the choice for president of 52% of registered voters, compared to 48% supporting Trump. Even when the ballot included third-party candidates like independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and independent candidate Cornel West, Harris beat Trump, with 47% to his 41%.
Harris’ fundraising has also seen significant increases over Biden: In July, her campaign announced it raised more than $300 million in one month. That doesn’t count the $36 million the campaign said it got in the 24 hours before announcing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
In contrast, the Trump campaign raised $138 million during the same time period.