DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Kamala Harris appeared on the popular ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast over the weekend in an attempt to appeal to young voters.

According to NPR, the show has a predominately young female audience, many of whom would be considered an undecided or unaligned voter – a desirable slot for any US Presidential candidate.

Since the short episode aired on yesterday, host Alex Cooper has faced criticism over the decision to have the sitting Vice President on the show as the programme, for many years, has been considered apolitical.

Former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump’s campaign have attempted to use the timing of the episode to claim the Vice President was speaking with Cooper instead of attending to those impacted by Hurricane Helene last week.

However, in a post on TikTok, Cooper shared videos of her and her production team preparing a studio ahead of the planned episode with Harris during the heaviest portion of the major storm and later finding out that the Presidential candidate had postponed.

The pre-recorded episode was then filmed on a later date, Cooper said in her video.

Many critics have also taken issue with the oftentimes lewd nature of the popular podcast, claiming it was inappropriate for a Presidential candidate to be speaking on the platform.

But CBS News’ chief elections correspondent Robert Costa told the America Decides programme yesterday that Harris is attempting to play to a particular crowd.

He said: “So many young people today, if they went to high school or college under the Trump administration, they do not see Trump as abnormal on the American political scene.

“She cannot correct that point of view but she needs to counter it by making these such appearances so that young people don’t look back at Trump with fondness [...] So many above 30 see Trump as an aberration from the American political history, but younger people do not.”

Trump has used the same playbook, making similar appearances on male-oriented podcasts such as influencer Logan Paul’s ‘Impaulsive’ programme as well as the controversial ‘Full Send Podcast’.

Speaking on the episode, Cooper and Harris discussed the cost of childcare, access to abortion, her campaign trail so far as well as sexual and reproductive health.

One specific question, on cost of living expenses facing younger voters, was posted by the Harris campaign on X, formerly Twitter, and has since been viewed over 11 million times at the time of publication.

60 Minutes

Harris followed up her appearance on the young-voter targeted podcast with a more traditional interview on prime-time CBS show 60 Minutes last night.

Harris revealed in the interview that the gun she owns is a Glock semi-automatic pistol, added that she “of course” has fired it on a shooting range.

Speculation has swirled about the US vice president’s weapon of choice ever since she revealed that she was a gun owner and that she would shoot anyone who broke into her house.

“I have a Glock, and I’ve had it for quite some time,” Harris said when asked what kind of firearm she packed. The Glock is the weapon of choice for many national police departments.

The Austrian-made handgun is one of the US’ best-selling weapons have had attained cult status from their appearance in films and hip-hop culture.

“My background is in law enforcement. And – so there you go,” added the former prosecutor and California attorney general.

Until recently Harris had rarely mentioned her status as a firearms owner, but in a tight election the 59-year-old Democrat has begun to play up her gun-owning credentials.

- With reporting by © – AFP 2024