Beyond polls between Harris and Trump, one candidate stands out with advantage

An analysis of television and online metrics reveals Vice President Kamala Harris stands out in the 2024 presidential election contest.

In the final days before the presidential election, polls indicate that Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee former President Donald Trump‘s race is too close to call.

However, there are some notable and unconventional observations that are not traditional markers for a White House win but are significant to consider. Out of the two presidential hopefuls, one candidate stands out. 

Based on audience metrics, Harris has drawn massive numbers for her latest interviews, notably her sit-down with Bret Baier on Fox News, urban radio host Charlamagne Tha God of “The Breakfast Club,” and the ABC daytime talk show “The View.”

The ladies of “The View” recently scored their highest numbers in more than three years for their interview with Vice President Harris. The Oct. 8 show garnered 3.1 million viewers. 

The vice president’s interview on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Oct. 16 drew 7.8 million viewers to the conservative cable network. The Harris interview more than tripled the show’s standard audience, which averaged 2.5 million in the third quarter. Those numbers also exceeded the audience of a town hall interview Fox News’ Harris Faulkner conducted with Trump that same day. 

Vice President Harris’s sit-down interview with Charlamagne Tha God on iHeart Radio attracted scores of listeners and viewers, as most major cable networks simulcasted the interview live. Those close to the interview call it “her biggest interview to date,” receiving 30.6 billion social media impressions and counting. 

While Donald Trump’s interviews and appearances have been newsworthy, they have not garnered the numbers or enthusiasm Harris has drawn. 

The former president appears to draw smaller crowds at his campaign rallies. For example, recently, in Detroit, there was a definite downsize to his usual crowd size during this election cycle. Attendees have also been seen leaving Trump’s rallies while he still delivers remarks. At one rally in Oaks, Pennsylvania, last week, the Republican nominee made headlines after he stopped taking questions from attendees to instead stand on stage as he swayed to music for more than 30 minutes.

During another campaign stop in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Trump talked about Arnold Palmer’s male genitalia. At another campaign stop, he called Kamala Harris a “sh–t vice president.” 

The 78-year-old former president even took up a pseudo-shift at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania on Sunday. Trump attempted to undercut Harris, declaring that she never worked at a McDonalds restaurant as she has previously shared. Harris said she worked at a McDonald’s while she was a college student at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Trump has not drawn the numbers nor overwhelmed the news cycle like Harris’ interviews and appearances, including her most recent visits to New Birth Baptist Church and Divine Faith Ministries International in Georgia this past Sunday. At Divine Faith Ministries, Harris even received a birthday serenade from musical icon Stevie Wonder.   

According to New Birth pastor Jamal Bryant, Harris’ appearance doubled the number of church streamers. Bryant told the Grio that the church normally averaged 40,000 streams; however, Harris’s visit doubled that number to 80,000 streams for the Sunday service. 

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