Kamala Harris must define herself to voters

Photo: Kayla Wolf Associated Press US Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign rally at West Allis High School in Wisconsin on Tuesday

Florence Morin-Martel

Posted at 6:34 p.m. Updated at 7:01 p.m.

• United States

Kamala Harris held the first rally of her nomination campaign in Wisconsin on Tuesday, after publicly receiving the support of two of the last Democratic tenors who had not yet supported her. Almost assured of being nominated as a candidate for the White House, she faces the challenge of defining herself among voters before her adversaries do it for her, underlines an expert.

The Democratic convention, which will open in Chicago on August 19, could be a major asset for the vice president. “If she is able to avoid Donald Trump and the Republicans succeeding in defining her before her convention even takes place, she will be able to use this kind of infomercial that lasts a week to represent herself to the American population,” says Rafael Jacob, associate researcher at the Observatory on the United States of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair.

This event could be crucial for Kamala Harris, in the context where there is a higher proportion of people undecided about her than about Donald Trump, explains Mr. Jacob. According to a Quinnipiac University poll published last Monday, 11% of voters have not heard enough about her to make a decision about her. For his opponent, this rate was only 2%.

Also in the same survey, 37% of people surveyed said they were favorable to Ms. Harris, and 46% to Mr. Trump. “It has a deficit to make up [before November 5] and it has little time to do it, but it is doable,” specifies the researcher.

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In the early stages of her campaign, the fifty-year-old garnered the support of a majority of Democratic delegates. These 4,000 people are responsible for officially nominating the party's candidate. “I look forward to being able to formally accept this nomination soon” between now and the convention in Chicago, Ms. Harris said earlier this week.

Many tenors of her party have already lined up behind her publicly, says Rafael Jacob. “Even those who have not yet officially spoken out, I believe, can be presumed to be in his camp. »

On Tuesday, Senate and House Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries added their voices to those of their peers who support his candidacy. Joe Biden, who announced last Sunday that he was withdrawing from the American presidential election, had encouraged the Democrats to rally behind the candidacy of the former prosecutor.

Mr. Biden will address the American public on Wednesday about his withdrawal.

A first gathering

On Tuesday, Kamala Harris began her campaign in Wisconsin, a key state taken over by Joe Biden in 2020, after being won by Donald Trump in 2016.

The Republican Party candidate for the November presidential election “wants to take our country back,” said the Vice-President of the United States in a speech energetic, in Milwaukee. “Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and the rule of law, or in a country of chaos, fear and hatred ?” she added.

In order to feel the pulse of voters, Ms. Harris made a stopover in this city in the Great Lakes region where the Republican convention took place last week. It was at this time that Donald Trump was nominated as the Republican Party's candidate for the November elections, a few days after being the victim of an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

The director of the American Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, also submitted her resignation on Tuesday. “As director, I take full responsibility for any security breach,” she declared during a hearing before Congress on Monday.

In recent days, both Republicans and Democrats called for its withdrawal, raises Rafael Jacob. “It’s indefensible, it’s so serious, what happened. And there was a complete lack of accountability for a week. »

Ready to debate

During a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Donald Trump said he was ready to debate Kamala Harris. According to him, she would be “easier” to defeat than Joe Biden in the election. “She is much more radical than him,” he said.

For her part, Ms. Harris compared the Republican candidate to a “predator” on Monday evening. and to a “crook.” “I can see the kind of guy Donald Trump is,” she said at an event in Delaware.

L The former California senator has already highlighted her willingness to campaign on issues such as abortion rights.

According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken , Ms. Harris’ “strong point” is foreign policy. “She is a very strong, very effective and deeply respected voice for our country around the world,” he said at a press briefing.

Still at the start of the campaign, the former prosecutor has already managed to raise significant sums, notes researcher Rafael Jacob. As of Sunday afternoon, she has raised more than US$100 million.

With Agence France-Presse and The Canadian Press