Election 2024: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz meet with CNN

Kamala Harris gave her long-awaited interview with CNN's Dana Bash yesterday. The reactions to her conversation, which also included Tim Walz, were predictable. The Democrats praised it. The Republicans panned it.

The truth undoubtedly lies somewhere in between. Harris has not brought much news, good or bad. She has promised to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet. That promise is a nod to her pledge to govern on behalf of all Americans. There are many highly qualified and talented Republicans who would undoubtedly be a great addition to a Harris administration. But as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both discovered, appointing a Republican to the Cabinet – even to a high-level post like Secretary of Defense – does little to quell partisan passions.

Harris also made her views clear on an issue that divides Democrats, support for Israel's war in Gaza. She unequivocally defended Israel's right to self-defense and said she would not hold back weapons destined for Israel. She coupled these statements with a commitment to achieve a ceasefire, secure the release of all hostages and work toward a two-state solution. That position, however reasonable, will not satisfy those Democrats who oppose U.S. policy.

But what was most striking about the interview was that the biggest domestic and foreign policy challenges facing the next president were largely absent. Bash did not ask Harris what she planned to do about America's growing national debt, how she planned to reshape the U.S. tax system, whether she would seek to regulate artificial intelligence or social media, how she would deal with China, whether and how she would continue U.S. support for Ukraine, how she would deal with Iran, or why she believes U.S. global leadership is critical to advancing American security and prosperity.

Of course, no interview lasting less than an hour can cover all the issues, especially if journalists also ask personal questions or press candidates on inconsistencies in their past statements. But with any luck, a future interviewer will ask Harris – and Donald Trump, too – about the issues that will dominate the next president's agenda.

Campaign update

The Harris and Trump campaigns continue to debate whether everything is ready for their planned Sept. 10 debate. Harris' team says no. Trump's team says yes. The sticking point appears to be whether a candidate's microphone will be muted when the other candidate is speaking. That was the case at the June 27 debate that prompted Biden's exit from the race. Trump wants to keep the rule. Harris wants to abolish it.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Trump last Friday after suspending his own candidacy. Kennedy said he lacked “a realistic path to victory” and that his poll numbers showed that if he stayed in the race, “he would most likely hand the election to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on most existential issues.” Not all pollsters agree that Kennedy's candidacy helped the Democrats.

Although Kennedy has dropped out of the race, his name will appear on the ballot in some of the nineteen states where he officially qualified. Election officials in Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin said this week they would not remove Kennedy's name from the ballot. He also may not be able to remove his name from the ballot in North Carolina, where Harris and Trump are neck and neck.

Both Trump and Kennedy say the former president did not offer Kennedy a job in a second Trump administration, should there be one. However, Trump has named Kennedy and former Hawaiian congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to his transition team. Kennedy said that means he will work to “select the people who are going to run the administration.”

While Kennedy is trying to get off the state ballots, independent presidential candidate Cornel West is trying to get on the ballot. He's not having much luck. So far, he's only qualified in five states. Last Friday, a Pennsylvania court upheld the Pennsylvania Secretary of State's ruling that West did not meet the state's requirements to be on the ballot.

West's failed attempt in Pennsylvania is far from the only legal challenge on the campaign trail. Election season, it's safe to say, is also lawsuit season. Just look at the Peachtree State. Last week, the Georgia State Board of Elections changed the state's rules for certifying election results, giving local election officials considerable discretion to delay the certification process so they can look for voting irregularities. This week, the Democratic Party and a coalition of allies sued the board, arguing that the new “requirements introduce significant uncertainty into the post-election process and — if interpreted as their drafters suggested — create chaos by establishing new processes that conflict with existing statutory duties.” The plaintiffs want the courts to rule that boards of elections must adhere to the calendar for certifying election results and that challenges to those results should be handled by courts. It's safe to assume that both parties will have their legal teams on speed dial for the rest of the year.

Trump's personal legal troubles also persist. On Tuesday, special counsel Jack Smith filed a revised indictment against the former president for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. Smith revised the revised indictment to reflect last month's Supreme Court ruling that presidents enjoy broad immunity for official acts while in office. The most significant change in the revised indictment is that Trump is no longer accused of breaking the law by pressuring the Justice Department to support his claims that the election was stolen from him.

What the experts say

Foreign policy profiled eleven men – and they are all men – “whose views and ideas could have a significant impact on Trump’s foreign policy decisions.” FP is not trying to pick and choose who might get what jobs in a second Trump administration. That's probably for the best. Trump had several advisory circles during his last term. His past behavior is probably an indication of his future behavior.

US News and World Report has published a “decision guide” comparing how Harris and Trump will shape their foreign policy. The guide focuses on four issues: China, Israel, NATO and Russia.

The New York TimesDavid Sanger noted that while China dominates the conversations in the White House Situation Room, it does not dominate the conversations on the campaign trail. As Sanger put it, when the topic of China “is raised at all on the campaign trail, it is primarily framed as an economic threat. More sensitive discussions about China's role as a broad-based strategic competitor, whose ambitions are already forcing the United States to change the way it prepares its workforce, designs its investments, and restructures its defenses, have largely fallen by the wayside. China has fallen victim to what I call the Situation Room-Campaign imbalance. It works something like this: If there is an issue that is on the minds of policymakers in Washington, you can usually assume that no one on the campaign trail is talking about it except in platitudes.” Last night's CNN interview is good evidence of Sanger's thesis.

What the polls show

Gallup found that Americans, and Democrats in particular, became much more enthusiastic about voting in November. In March, 56 percent of Americans and 55 percent of Democrats said they were “more enthusiastic than usual about voting.” Those numbers are now 69 percent and 78 percent, respectively. Republican enthusiasm also increased, from 59 percent to 64 percent. The 69 percent figure is the highest overall enthusiasm level since Gallup first began asking the question in 2000. The previous highs were reached in August 2004, October 2008 and September 2020, when 67 percent of Americans said they were more enthusiastic about voting. Voter enthusiasm and turnout are broadly correlated. The 2004, 2008 and 2020 elections had the highest turnout of the six presidential elections since 2000.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that Americans have mixed views on the Biden administration's support for Israel's war in Gaza. Six in 10 Americans support military support for Israel until the hostages are released, while 49 percent support continuing that support until Hamas is destroyed. At the same time, 53 percent support limiting U.S. military aid to Israel to limit harm to the Palestinians.

The campaign plan

The second presidential debate will take place in eleven days (September 10, 2024).

North Carolina will begin mailing mail-in ballots to all voters who request them in one week (September 6, 2024). In Pennsylvania, voters can request mail-in ballots ten days later (September 16, 2024).

Donald Trump's sentencing for his New York capital crimes convictions will take place in nineteen days (September 18, 2024).

In three weeks (September 20, 2024), the country's first in-person mail-in voting will begin in Minnesota and South Dakota.

There are still 77 days until election day.

There are still 143 days until inauguration day.

Aliya Kaisar contributed to the preparation of this article.