(Headline USA) CNN’s Jake Tapper blasted Vice President Kamala Harris this week for dodging every single question asked of her during Tuesday’s debate against former President Donald Trump.
Harris might not have fallen flat on her face against Trump, Tapper said, but she was not honest about her policy positions when pressed about them.
She “punt[ed] the very first question on the economy,” he pointed out, and it “went on from there.”
Instead of answering whether she believed the economy is working for Americans today, Harris “generally reverted to talking points about a few of her policy proposals,” Tapper added. “Even Harris allies today are saying that she needs to talk more about what she will do for Americans if elected.”
Harris also dodged questions on immigration, he said.
For example, when she was asked how she might have managed the border crisis better than President Joe Biden, Harris answered, “So, I‘m the only person on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns, drugs, and human beings.”
But “that wasn’t the question,” Tapper said.
Harris’s evasion strategy has not seemed to help her with independents or swing-state voters, according to recent polling.
A New York Times poll released last weekend found that 30% of undecided voters needed to know more about Harris and her agenda, compared to just 9% who said the same of Trump.
Snap polls taken immediately after Tuesday’s debate showed she failed to give those voters what they wanted.
Hannah Reed, an independent who backed Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, told NBC News after the debate that she wanted to like Harris but did not think Harris had “actual policies that are going to be effective.”
Lynne Kelleher, who voted for Trump in 2016 and for the libertarian candidate in 2020, agreed and said Harris’s “taglines,” such as “opportunity economy” did nothing to reassure her.
