Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, blundered through answers to voters’ concerns about sky-high grocery prices in interviews Thursday, talking of their roots in the "working class" and "false information" about groceries.
A Latina voter asked the vice president during a Univision town hall in battleground Nevada what she would do so the "cost of living does not destroy" the middle class. She noted that her grocery bill has gone up $100 since Harris and President Joe Biden took office.
"I come from the working class. I'm never going to forget where I come from," Harris responded. "Part of what we have to do is build what I call an opportunity economy where people have the opportunity like you have described for you to be able to work hard, and your five daughters have an opportunity to then do what they and what you aspire for them to be able to do."
Harris highlighted her plan to go after "price gouging," a corporate practice that economists say is largely not responsible for the increased price of food.
"Here is my plan, it includes what we need to do to bring down the cost of, for example, groceries. One of the issues I’m going to be taking on is price gouging," Harris said.
In a Friday interview with Good Morning America, Walz was asked why voters, who blame Harris for sky-high grocery prices, should trust her to bring the cost of living down.
"We see some of the data, but data doesn't impact people in their daily lives, going to the grocery store and you see false information, whether it's bird flu impacting eggs, but the reality for most people is if those costs are up they want to know what you’re gonna do about it, " the governor said.
"Let’s just be candid about this, there’s price gouging piece of this [sic]," Walz continued.
Harris and Walz have both struggled to answer questions about the economy during their campaign’s media blitz this week.
"We now have an economy that is thriving by all macroeconomic measures," Harris said on 60 Minutes Monday when asked about inflation. "Prices are still too high, and I know that. And we need to deal with it, which is why part of my plan—you mentioned groceries—part of my plan is what we must do to bring down the price of groceries."
Noting voters' complaints about the Biden-Harris administration, hosts on The View asked Harris if she would have "done something differently than President Biden."
"Not a thing that comes to mind," she responded.