Everything has changed and everything remains the same. The US presidential elections, which Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will contest in a month, appear to be as indecisive and tense as ever despite the shocks experienced. The former Republican president has seen his already solid electoral base galvanized after suffering two assassination attempts, in Pennsylvania in July and in Florida in September.
The sudden emergence of the vice president into the race, after Joe Biden’s historic withdrawal in July, has restored hope to the Democratic Party, which was trembling due to the poor polls of the octogenarian president.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump tie in the polls
Kamala Harris is tied with Donald Trump in the polls, or slightly ahead nationally, but has not gotten the push it needs in the only states that have. As in 2016 and 2020, the famous swing states (Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) could decide whether the 59-year-old former prosecutor or the 78-year-old millionaire get the 270 electoral votes they need to win .
The vice president hopes the United States is ready for a “new generation” of leaders. That is to say, the country wants to break with Donald Trump by electing her, whose father is Jamaican and whose mother is Indian. Kamala Harris did not go into the details of her centrist program, which combines firmness against illegal immigration, promises of improvements for the middle class and the defense of abortion rights, an issue on which Republicans feel especially uncomfortable.
Faced with attacks and even insults from Donald Trump, the Democratic candidate prefers to hurt his susceptibility, as she did during the September debate with undeniable success. He called it weak. and told him that the Americans had “kicked him out” in 2020.
Trump presents himself as anti-establishment
Candidate for the White House for the third time, Donald Trump repeats the score of 2016 and 2020, presenting himself as a anti-system, close to the people and very critical of Washington elites. The same campaign creed: the fight against illegal immigration, which according to him is “destroying” American cities.
In each of his rallies, the septuagenarian paints a gloomy picture of a country ravaged by “terrorist” and “rapist” migrants, released from “prisons and asylums.” He also criticizes his rival for inflation. accuse “Comrade Kamala”, as he nicknamed herof wanting to introduce measures “taken directly from Venezuela or the Soviet Union” to counteract the rise in prices.
His rallies are attended by hosts of red-capped followers, convinced that their hero, convicted of a criminal offense at the end of May, is a victim of political persecution or that Democrats encourage threats against him. Donald Trump himself has blamed his second assassination attempt on the “rhetoric” of his adversaries, while Democrats accuse him of being the instigator of a sometimes unbreathable political climate.
Political tension increases in the US
On the eve of the November 5 elections, political tension is increasing. Election centers in the most contested counties have become fortresses, protected by wrought-iron fences and metal detectors. The certification of the results of the presidential elections at the Capitol, the scene of an attack by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, will be done this time with the highest level of security possible for an official event.
But there are fears that, once again, the vote will be so close that it will take days, not hours, to declare a winner. Donald Trump, who has never conceded defeat in 2020, has already accused Democrats of “cheating.”
FS