LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Tim Walz has been a national figure for barely two weeks.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Yeah, that's all the time that's passed since Vice President Harris chose Minnesota's governor as her running mate. He's now familiar for his Minnesota accent and his mockery of the Republican ticket. And last night, he had a chance to tell the country more about who he is.
FADEL: NPR political reporter Elena Moore is here to talk about it all. Good morning.
ELENA MOORE, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: OK, so this was Tim Walz's moment to introduce himself to the nation, a prime-time debut. How did he do it?
MOORE: Well, his speech was part rallying cry for Vice President Harris and part introduction. He's an Army National Guard veteran turned teacher and high school football coach, turned politician. But the coach role is the one he leaned into. You know, as he spoke, the crowd chanted and held up signs that said Coach Walz.
(CHEERING)
MOORE: He also ticked through many of the same issues that we hear Harris talk about, but he added his own Midwestern flare.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TIM WALZ: In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make.
(CHEERING)
WALZ: And even if we wouldn't make those same choices for ourselves, we've got a golden rule - mind your own damn business.
(CHEERING)
MOORE: And there he's talking about protecting reproductive rights, a major issue for Democratic voters.
FADEL: Yeah, and we heard a lot about neighborliness last night. Now, before he was governor, Walz was a congressman. He won as a Democrat in a part of Minnesota that was deeply red, flipped a Republican seat. What about him appeals to voters beyond the Democratic base?
MOORE: Well, Walz gives off a different vibe that might appeal to folks outside of Democrats' orbit, you know? He's a camo wearing gun owner who's into dad rock, and above all, you know, he's leaning into his Midwestern roots. And that's exactly where Democrats hope he can excel, you know, in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, those blue wall states that Harris needs in order to win the White House. And we heard some of that message in his speech.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WALZ: This is the part. Clip and save it and send it to your undecided relatives, so they know. If you're a middle-class family or a family trying to get into the middle class, Kamala Harris is going to cut your taxes.
(CHEERING)
FADEL: Now, there were some heavy hitters onstage last night, former President Bill Clinton, former speaker Nancy Pelosi. There was also a surprise appearance from Oprah Winfrey. What was that like?
MOORE: I mean, it was Oprah.
FADEL: Right (laughter).
MOORE: I mean, I was in the audience, and the crowd went wild when she walked in.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Please welcome Oprah Winfrey.
MOORE: In her speech, she really called for unity.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
OPRAH WINFREY: When a house is on fire, we don't ask about the homeowner's race or religion. We don't wonder who their partner is or how they voted, no. We just try to do the best we can to save them.
MOORE: And, you know, Leila, Oprah is no stranger to talking politics. She endorsed former President Barack Obama in 2007, and she kept backing Democrats since then. And this is her first appearance at the DNC.
FADEL: While a lot of the night was about celebrating the Harris-Walz ticket, it also had some really serious moments. Tell us more about that.
MOORE: Yeah, earlier in the evening, we heard from the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a young American being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. It was a really emotional moment, and the crowd was noticeably moved. But there was also controversy because leaders of the National Uncommitted Movement, who have delegates at the convention, had been pushing for a Palestinian American to have a speaking spot as well to also highlight what's happening to the people in Gaza. And that request was denied. This is a group that has urged Democrats to support a cease-fire in the war and have called for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel. And this hits at a problem for Democrats. You know, they need Arab American, Muslim and progressive voters in order to win, but these are the same voters most turned off by the U.S. policy on the war.
FADEL: That's NPR's Elena Moore. Thanks, Elena.
MOORE: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FADEL: Vice President Harris makes her bid to unify the Democrats' coalition tonight.
INSKEEP: She delivers her convention speech. Her short campaign has allowed Harris to reach this point while saying much less than most candidates have about how she would govern. So where does she take the party now?
FADEL: NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram has been covering Harris and joins us from Chicago. Hi, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning.
FADEL: So we know a little bit about her economic plans but not much else. Will Vice President Harris lay out a vision tonight?
SHIVARAM: I mean, I think the important point to make here is that this is still the vice president, right? And she's been No. 2 to President Biden for the last four years. So his policy agenda has been her policy agenda, too. And they've been lockstep on all these major issues this election, like border security, the economy, reproductive rights and even foreign policy, like the war in Gaza.
But what Harris now has the ability to do as she runs her own presidential campaign, albeit a very short one, is to navigate some of this with a little more authority and to frame it the way she wants, to use the language she wants. And Harris being a younger candidate than Biden and bringing all this energy and money that the party didn't have just two months ago, she's been able to try and frame this election as a choice about the future and what a Harris presidency could build, rather than what Trump offers. She has a phrase that crowds have now been chanting at rallies and at the DNC this week in Chicago, which is, you know, we're not going back.
FADEL: But none of that is very specific. I mean, how come?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, just last week in a speech from North Carolina, Harris talked about her agenda on lowering costs - the cost of groceries and prescription drugs and housing - giving people who are trying to own a home credits to help them, expanding the child tax credit, helping families with newborn babies. These kinds of things are top issues for Harris. And there has been interest and questions about what Harris' foreign policy or criminal justice policy would look like. But so far, what she's put out is not, like, a detailed agenda that Republicans have put forward.
FADEL: But why hasn't she laid all that out?
SHIVARAM: Well, look, partly a matter of time, right? This is a very truncated presidential campaign and we could see more policy as the weeks go on. But partly this is a strategy, Leila, I mean, according to Doug Sosnik. He was a former adviser to former President Bill Clinton.
DOUG SOSNIK: If you're laying out too much specifics, it does give the other side something to shoot at.
SHIVARAM: And Sosnick told me that the most successful candidates, you know, connect with voters emotionally rather than intellectually. It's more important that Harris lays out to voters who she is and the values she stands for. So these broader visions for the country that Harris has been talking about, he says, makes more sense from a political strategy perspective rather than laying out policy papers.
FADEL: Right. Although, voters may want to know exactly what her policies are. In terms of her speech tonight, then, what are you expecting to hear from her?
SHIVARAM: I mean, keep in mind, this is, you know, still a presidential campaign. And Harris is very new to the country and to a lot of voters, so a lot of this is going to be biographical, explaining who she is, her story. And she'll be talking about her time as a prosecutor, the criminals she took on in California. And there's also going to be elements of patriotism here, and of course, that contrast to Donald Trump.
FADEL: NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Thank you.
SHIVARAM: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Don't know about your household, but my kids are getting ready to return to school. And a new survey finds that many teenagers do not feel challenged in school. They worry they're not being prepared for the future. NPR's Cory Turner has been looking at the results. Cory, good morning.
CORY TURNER, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: Which group of kids are we talking about?
TURNER: We are talking about Gen Z, so these are teens and young adults between 12 and 27.
INSKEEP: OK.
TURNER: Although, I am just going to focus on those who are now in middle and high school. So this survey is part of a relatively new project from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation. And two quick disclosures here, Steve. Walton is a funder of NPR, and I have a Gen Zer in my house who I love very much.
INSKEEP: Same, so we got skin in the game.
TURNER: (Laughter) There we go.
INSKEEP: But we're going to call it straight. Go ahead.
TURNER: (Laughter) The big headline for me from this survey is that Gen Z teens are feeling less engaged by school. Nearly every measure of school engagement on this survey declined this year compared to last year. For example, big drop in how many students say they recently learned something interesting at school. Now, obviously, kids are not always going to love school. But a 10-point drop in one year among the same kids? That's worrying.
INSKEEP: Something happened according to this survey that makes them feel they're getting less out of the experience. What's behind that?
TURNER: Well, it's not entirely clear. One thing that caught my eye, though, is a big engagement divide between teens who say they plan to go to college and those who don't. So of those planning to go to college, which is about half of Gen Z teens, the overwhelming majority say they have a great future ahead. They're optimistic. But more than 4-in-10 Gen Z students say they don't have college plans, and they are a lot less optimistic. Now, obviously, there are a bunch of reasons for this gap, but it is not because you have to go to college to feel good about the future.
INSKEEP: Although, there is a kind of path that feels clear to many people of going to college and getting a good job, maybe a little less so in the other way. But what are the reasons behind the optimism gap?
TURNER: Well, I think part of the problem here, Steve, is schools aren't doing a good job laying out that path. You know, the students who say they don't want to go to college say their K-12 schools aren't helping them imagine the lives they do want. For example, only about 40% of non-college bound Gen Zers say they feel challenged in class in a good way. They're also less likely than college bound teens to say there's an adult at school who makes them feel excited about the future or even encourages them to pursue their dreams. Part of the problem, these teens say, is school staff spend a lot of time talking about college, but not alternatives. Here's Zach Hrynowski. He's a senior education researcher at Gallup.
ZACH HRYNOWSKI: Even the kids who are like, I don't want to go to college, what are they hearing the most about? College. We're not talking to them about apprenticeships, internships, starting a business, entrepreneurial aspirations, jobs that don't require a college degree.
TURNER: Now, Steve, in schools' defense, I should say this mismatch was largely borne out of good intentions, wanting kids to believe college can be for anyone.
INSKEEP: Yeah, and this is part of a big national discussion. People emphasize that your life is much better, you make more money over time if you have a college degree. But do educators need to change their message for the large number of Americans who just aren't going to go to college?
TURNER: I mean, I will say there has been a lot more talk in recent years about what's called career and technical education. It was a big priority under President Trump, under President Biden. I should also say, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Vice President Harris' running mate, last year eliminated the need for a college diploma for three-quarters of his state's government jobs.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
TURNER: Still, this survey makes clear lots of teens want to dream big, just without college, and schools need to do better by them.
INSKEEP: NPR education correspondent Cory Turner. Thanks for the insights, Cory.
TURNER: You're welcome, Steve.
INSKEEP: And good luck to the kid.
TURNER: (Laughter). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
