After two weeks of campaigning, Kamala Harris confirms her good momentum

Photo: Mark Felix Agence France-Presse The entry into the race of Kamala Harris, who took up the Democratic torch after the sensational announcement of President Joe Biden's withdrawal, has completely reshuffled the cards by narrowing the gap that Donald Trump had created.

Lucie Aubourg – Agence France-Presse in Washington

Published at 1:32 p.m.

• United States

A new poll published Sunday confirms that Kamala Harris, who is due to announce her running mate shortly, has caught up with Donald Trump in voting intentions and has shaken up a race for the White House that the former US president had previously thought was a foregone conclusion.

Seeking to break the momentum gained by the 59-year-old vice president in just two weeks, the Republican has unleashed his blows in recent days against his rival, attacking her on her origins and her mental abilities.

The entry into the race of Kamala Harris, who took up the Democratic torch after President Joe Biden's shock announcement of his withdrawal, has completely reshuffled the cards by narrowing the gap that Donald Trump had widened.

According to a new CBS poll, 50% of voters now say they plan to vote for Kamala Harris, compared to 49% for Donald Trump. A very slight advantage, within the margin of error, but one that Joe Biden never had.

The vice president benefits from particularly strong support from women and black voters. Among the latter, more say they intend to vote today than in July.

Kamala Harris' challenge will be to maintain this positive momentum in the months remaining until the election on November 5.

A major milestone will be the announcement by Tuesday of her running mate, who would become her vice president if she is elected.

Forced to make a very quick decision while such a selection process usually lasts months, Kamala Harris should, according to observers, choose a white man who will allow her to expand her base and compensate for certain weak points in her campaign.

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According to several American media outlets, three potential candidates are in Washington to meet with Kamala Harris on Sunday: Mark Kelly, senator from Arizona, Josh Shapiro, governor of the key state of Pennsylvania, as well as Tim Walz, little-known governor of Minnesota.

The names of Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky, or the current Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, have also circulated.

This choice should “help define her,” stressed political analyst Amy Walter.

Kamala Harris' campaign team has already announced that the duo will begin a tour starting Tuesday in no less than seven key states in the country, where the presidential election could be decided.

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Strategy shaken up

Former prosecutor and former senator of California is assured of becoming the Democratic nominee after garnering the support of more than half of her party's delegates this week in an online vote that is set to end Monday.

She will officially accept the nomination after the polls close, and will celebrate it at the Democratic Party convention in Chicago in mid-August.

Another good sign for her campaign: her team announced this week that it had raised $310 million in July, more than double that of Donald Trump.

The former White House incumbent, who until now was facing an 81-year-old Joe Biden whom he presented as senile, was forced to review his strategy in the face of a rival nearly twenty years his junior.

This week he targeted her origins, accusing her of electoralist aims: “She was Indian and, all of a sudden, she changed and she became a black person,” Donald Trump declared during an exchange with journalists.

If elected president, Kamala Harris, born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, would become the first black female president of the United States.

On Saturday night, speaking at a rally in Georgia about the possibility of a televised debate — on which the two candidates have not been able to agree — Donald Trump also said that she was “not capable of expressing herself.”