For several weeks after Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for president, media observers and critics questioned her decision to remain inaccessible to the press. Some Donald Trump allies assailed the vice president as incapable of getting through an interview.

Independent voters are a must-win for both Harris and Trump in the swing states, where polls are currently very close.

The Emerson College Polling/The Hill surveys of likely voters found a close race across the states of Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada. The poll was conducted after the presidential debate last week.

Kamala Harris has acknowledged that she must do more to win over Black male voters, amid fears that a once reliable cohort of Democratic voters is turning to Donald Trump. Harris said she did not assume that Black men would vote for her “because I am Black” but was “working to earn [their] vote” ahead of the November presidential election.

Kamala Harris spoke to the National Association of Black Journalists, roughly a month after Donald Trump spoke to the association and made news when he questioned Harris' race.