Harris among black voters, Trump in border state three weeks before election

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each crisscross disputed states on Sunday , the American vice president trying to dispel doubts about her ability to mobilizing traditional electorates crucial to the Democratic camp, and the former Republican president hammering home his anti-immigration rhetoric.

With just over three weeks to go until the November 5 vote, the polls are still very undecided, but several recent surveys reveal Kamala Harris's difficulties in winning votes among black and Hispanic voters.

A New York Times/Siena College poll published Sunday gives her less than 60% of voting intentions in the Hispanic community, which would represent the lowest level for a Democratic candidate in 20 years.

She is credited with only a 19-point lead over her Republican opponent within this strategic electorate in several pivotal states, particularly in the Southwest, such as Arizona and Nevada, seven fewer than Joe Biden in 2020 and 20 fewer than Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The The 59-year-old vice president was in North Carolina (southeast) on Sunday, a state won by a Democratic candidate for the last time in 2008 with Barack Obama and recently devastated by Hurricane Helene.

Former US President Bill Clinton in a church in Albany, Georgia (southeastern United States), October 13, 2024 © AFP – Logan Cyrus

She attended a religious service in a church attended by a majority of African-Americans in Greenville – a town itself located in a part of North Carolina with a large black population but which has a high voter abstention rate.

On Thursday, in the key state of Pennsylvania (northeast), former President Barack Obama criticized his African-American “brothers” who were reluctant to elect a woman for the first time in American history.

Jim Clyburn, an African-American elected representative from South Carolina to the House of Representatives, confided on CNN on Sunday that he was “concerned that black men might stay home or vote for Trump” on November 5.

Another Kamala Harris supporter, Bill Clinton, campaigned on Sunday in Georgia, another contested state on the coast. Atlantic. The former Democratic president, still considered very popular with the black electorate, also spoke in a church attended mainly by African-Americans.

– Contestation of the 2020 results –

US President Joe Biden (center) speaks about the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in St. Pete Beach, Florida, on October 13, 2024 © AFP – Bonnie CASH

Outgoing President Joe Biden visited Florida, which was hit successively by hurricanes Helene and Milton.

“It's at times like this that we come together to help each other, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans,” Joe Biden, who signed the major disaster declaration the day before, declared in a disaster zone.

Donald Trump is due to speak at a rally in Arizona, a border state where his anti-immigration rhetoric is popular.

His running mate on the Republican ticket, J.D. Vance, once again refused on ABC on Sunday to acknowledge that Donald Trump had lost the previous election to Joe Biden, citing “serious problems in 2020”.

He defended the former president's doom-and-gloom speech on immigration and lambasted the outgoing Democratic administration for, according to him, having “let millions of people in, most of them without verification.”

At a rally Saturday night in Coachella, California, Donald Trump accused Kamala Harris of having “orchestrated the invasion of America.”

The former American president and candidate Republican Donald Trump at a rally in Coachella, California, on October 12, 2024 © AFP – Frederic J. BROWN

He once again promised mass deportations upon his return to power and harsh prison sentences for illegal immigrants.

“We will defend our civilization. We will not be conquered, we will not be occupied. We will regain our sovereignty,” Donald Trump hammered home.

After these few days of remote duel, the two candidates are due to meet again on Monday in Pennsylvania, considered vital by each of the two camps to open the way to the White House.

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