Axelrod: Voters don’t know much about Harris, policy shifts

Democratic strategist David Axelrod said late Thursday that he doesn’t think voters know much about Vice President Harris and whether or not the Democratic nominee's policy views have changed much over the years.

Axelrod joined CNN for a panel following Harris’s first televised interview at the top of the Democratic ticket.

The interview was seen as a high-stakes moment during which she could share her policies, after being criticized by the right for her lack of media appearances.

She’s also been criticized for shifting on policy issues including fracking and decriminalizing the border. Harris was adamant during the interview that her values had not changed.

“First of all, I don’t know how much voters are sitting around thinking about this,” Axelrod said about Harris’s response. “They don’t know much about her, honestly, they’re gaining information about her all the time.”

Axelrod added that voters have spent the last month being flooded with information about Harris.

He also said he thinks average voters aren’t concerned about whether or not Harris has changed her stance on certain issues since she ran in the Democratic primary in 2020.

It may be a bigger issue to reporters and those who are undecided, he said.

Axelrod noted that Harris’s interview, broadcast on CNN, was one of the first major unscripted moments since the start of her campaign. She’s held packed rallies across the country and officially accepted the party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention, but each speech was planned and read off a teleprompter, he added.

“Part of what’s interesting is how she answers those questions and part of it is, is she comfortable doing it?” Axelrod said. “She seemed pretty comfortable there to me.”

During the interview, Harris was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash about the comments former President Trump has made about her race. Harris is of Jamaican and South Asian descent and Trump has criticized her for emphasizing different parts of her heritage at different times.

Harris said it’s the “same old, tired playbook” from Trump and asked Bash to move on to the next question.

Axelrod said it was “absolutely the right thing” for Harris to do because it shows she is focused on what problems people have instead of attacking her rival.

“I think that’s what the American people want to hear,” he said.

A new survey by The Wall Street Journal found 84 percent of respondents said they know enough about Harris's career and policy positions to have an opinion about her.