Susanna Reid on covering the US Election: 'Adrenaline, late nights and high stakes'
"The adrenaline streams through your body."
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
With the 2024 US election on the horizon, Radio Times spoke with Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid about preparing election coverage and how she deals with social media attention.
Talk us through GMB's US election plans?
Ed Balls and I are flying straight out to Washington DC after hosting Good Morning Britain on Monday 4 November. We’ll be soaking up the atmosphere. Then we’ll be on the ground, presenting the election results programme on the Wednesday morning.
You’re used to a 3:40am alarm call. With the time difference, you won’t get much sleep…
It’ll be one of those weeks where sleep takes a backseat. There are some stories where the adrenaline and cortisone just stream through your body!
What does Ed bring to the show?
He’s steeped in politics, a political veteran even at his very young age! He’s not just an expert on British politics – he's a Senior Fellow at Harvard, so an expert on American politics, too. He’ll bring an experienced eye to our coverage.
Of course, you co-hosted the last US election with Piers Morgan…
We did the 2016 election and the 2020 election. Piers, as we know, had a very close relationship with Donald Trump, and in 2016 Piers called it for Trump very early on, saying, "Don’t underestimate this man. He’s a winner. He knows how to strike a deal."
He was a lone voice among the media commentariat. People were absolutely convinced Hillary Clinton was going to win it. But Piers stuck to his guns.
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How have you prepared this time round?
I’ve been reading about Kamala Harris and her time in San Francisco, reading about the swing states and when they will announce, about Trump and his court cases, and the briefings on our guests.
Good Morning Britain's early morning time slot could be perfect – if a result is quickly declared, that is…
It could be. But, of course, in 2020, it wasn’t until a good couple of days afterwards that the result became clear.
How do you deal with receiving so much social media attention?
I’m not going to take on board the criticism of trolls. But you do want to take into account what viewers are telling you about their own experiences. That was particularly important over the course of lockdown and Partygate.
What people think about me is so low on my radar. Obviously, you can filter… I choose what to look at, and what not to look at.
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