President Joe Biden is set to avoid the national media and conduct even fewer high-profile interviews during the 2024 campaign, instead booking meetings with local media outlets and “influencers.”
The Hill reported Thursday about the strategy, and his aides noted that it was also implemented in 2020 and helped him win the White House over now-former President Donald Trump.
A former contributor told the newspaper that by focusing on local media, “you get more bang for your buck.”
And the gaffe-prone president enjoys talking about local issues rather than the day’s news questions and queries about his poll numbers he receives from the national press, according to the report.
“It’s always helpful when the president can speak to a community specifically about their accomplishments without all the noise,” the aide said. “It’s more effective… than sitting with a network, where many of the voters are already going to vote for you anyway.”
President Joe Biden is willing to avoid the national media and will instead schedule meetings with local media outlets and influencers. Biden’s campaign posted a photo of the president recording the SmartLess podcast on Thursday during his trip to New York City.
Comedians Jason Bateman (left), Will Arnett (third from left) and Sean Hayes (second from right) recorded an interview for their SmartLess podcast Thursday with President Joe Biden (third from right), former Presidents Barack Obama (second from left) and Bill Clinton (right)
President Joe Biden (left) arrives in New York City on Thursday accompanied by former President Barack Obama (right). Former President Bill Clinton will join the two for a podcast interview with three Hollywood comedians, in lieu of a traditional print or broadcast Q&A.
During his first three years in office, Biden fell far behind Trump in giving interviews.
As of Jan. 20 of this year, he sat down with reporters 86 times, compared to 300 for Trump, according to data compiled by Martha Kumar, a professor emeritus of political science at Towson University who studies White House communications.
Most recently, Biden recorded an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart during a trip to Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this month, which was part of a two-day opening campaign tour when he officially became the presumptive Democratic nominee.
That came after bypassing the traditional Super Bowl presidential interview, which would have been with CBS, the network that broadcasts the game.
After his meeting with Capehart, Biden spoke with two influential Latino journalists, Alex Lucas on Nueva Network and Raúl Molinar on Univision Radio, before a trip to three states in mid-March: Nevada, Arizona and Texas to reinforce his support. among Latino voters.
He also invited several TikTok influencers to the White House ahead of his March 8 State of the Union address.
And on Thursday, Biden, former President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton recorded an episode of the SmartLess podcast, hosted by comedians Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, ahead of their star-studded $25 million fundraiser in Radio City Music from New York. Hall.
President Joe Biden (right) sat down with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart (left) in Atlanta as he kicked off his general election campaign. The Hill reported Thursday that Biden will avoid most of the national media and speak to local media and influencers during the 2024 campaign.
President Joe Biden leaves the White House on March 7 to deliver his State of the Union address. Before the speech, the White House invited several Tik Tok influencers and they are seen watching the president leave from the Truman Balcony.
Biden also appeared on an episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers on a trip to New York last month.
At the same time, Biden has never addressed the White House press from the briefing room podium.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump made appearances in front of the White House press corps nearly every day of the week.
And Biden’s press conferences are few.
As of Jan. 20, he had held 33 press conferences, compared to Trump’s 49, according to Kumar, while Obama reached 65 during this point in his term.
The White House has often said that Biden will not hold a news conference with a foreign leader because that country declined.
Biden, however, does engage in helicopter conversations: He talks to reporters as he leaves the White House for Marine One or under the wing of Air Force One.
He did it 535 times during his first three years in office. At that time Trump was at 572, Kumar tabulated.
Trump’s team told The Hill that the former president and presumptive 2024 Republican nominee is much friendlier to the press, even though he often refers to journalists at his rallies as the “enemy of the people.”
“President Trump is more accessible to the press and the American people than Broken Biden, whose staff won’t allow him to give interviews or answer questions because they are terrified by his failed presidency, his disastrous policies and his declining cognitive ability,” the spokesperson said. . Daniela Alvarez.
Trump tends to appear on a variety of shows, from Howard Kurtz’s Fox News Channel media show to podcast interviews with former aides.
But some Republicans feared he would have to make a more concerted effort to get his message to swing voters in the states.
“There has been very little of that,” one Republican strategist told The Hill. “And while I think Trump can deliver his message to voters better than Biden, they need to do a better job of achieving those local goals.”
“It could make a difference,” the source said.