One of the most remarkable aspects of newly bashful Joe Biden’s march to the Democratic presidential nomination has been his avoidance of the press and his refusal at times to even entertain questions.
Press conferences, which have been the easiest and most effective way to get attention in all past campaigns, have disappeared as the former vice president has ducked press scrums, choosing instead to host only a handful of mostly local TV interviews.
By comparison, President Trump has increased his meetings with the media through the resumption of his coronavirus press briefings, West Wing events, and gaggles with the White House press pool.
The comparison in numbers of questions taken is stunning and suggests that the presidential challengers have reversed roles, with Biden running a bunker-styled Rose Garden campaign and Trump as the insurgent.
A review of interviews, transcripts, and videos shows that since mid-July, Trump has taken 635 questions from the media and Biden just 80, an 8-1 divide.
During a 28-day stretch from July 19 to Aug. 15, Trump took questions on 24 days, skipping just two weekends, while Biden took questions on 13 days.
And 41 of the questions he faced over the period came in a prerecorded interview via his computer with the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Trump answered more questions in three separate interviews during the same period.
Biden supporters want him to continue his strategy of avoiding the media because it puts a focus on Trump and doesn’t seem to be hurting his polling numbers.
President @realDonaldTrump on Joe Biden refusing to take questions from the media pic.twitter.com/Rk4KBsLeKp
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 17, 2020
However, it gives Trump an avenue to hit Biden and push the view that the Democrat is hiding his agenda because it is too radical and that he is trying to keep the number of blunders low.
Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said, “Voters can tell who wants the job of president and who doesn’t, and they won’t reward a candidate like Joe Biden who is afraid to take simple questions from the press.”