With two weeks to go until the US presidential election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are campaigning to attract the widest possible electorate as the vote looks set to be very close. However, the billionaire is taking the lead in the poll results. The essentials Live Barack Obama's support for Kamala Harris was delayed after Joe Biden announced his withdrawal and nominated the vice president to succeed him. Barack Obama's help during the campaign was also slow in coming. But the timing seems to have been well thought out, because with two weeks to go until the presidential election, the Obamas' participation in Kamala Harris' campaign is an opportunity to boost the Democrat's candidacy before the election. The 44th President of the United States, who has also been the candidate's friend for 20 years, remains one of the most popular political figures in the United States and his voice counts, particularly among suburbanites of large cities and African-Americans, two electorates that Kamala Harris covets, but whose support is eroding in favor of Donald Trump. Barack Obama will undoubtedly call on his supporters to support Kamala Harris in the series of rallies that await her this week in the key states of Arizona, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin. “What I can't understand is how anyone would believe that Donald Trump is going to shake things up in a way that's good for you,” he has already said. the former White House occupant before adding: “We don't need four more years of arrogance, clumsiness, bluster and division,” the Democratic figure added. He has also already urged African-American voters, who are mainly male, to choose the democratic candidate: Donald Trump has already accused the Democratic camp of cheating several times during the last months of the election campaign, but he has never provided any proof. On Monday evening, during a press conference in North Carolina, he again “cast doubt on the integrity of the election,” reports the New York Times. However, the Republican acknowledged that he had no proof of possible fraud organized by the Democratic party. “I know the other side, and they're not good. But I haven't seen that,” Donald Trump said after making the new accusations. Michael Whatley, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, fueled the suspicions, adding: “They're trying, but are they successful?”? They're not going to succeed. get away with it, right ?” Kamala Harris has once again turned the age and mental health argument against Donald Trump, while the latter has constantly questioned Joe Biden's health when the latter was still her rival. The vice president took advantage of her rally in Wisconsin to highlight what many are calling a moment of confusion, or a moonshot, by the Republican who interrupted his rally to play music for half an hour during an event organized in Pennsylvania on October 14. She also recalled Donald Trump's refusal to release a medical report on his health and the same man's refusal to face a new debate or a long interview like Kamala Harris was able to do on Fox News. “I wonder what he is hiding. I also wonder what his team is trying to hide by preventing him or suggesting that he no longer debate with me, no longer do these interviews,” she said. Donald Trump spoke at length to the Christian community at an event hosted by religious leaders in North Carolina on Monday, October 21. The Republican candidate unfolded his conservative ideas, particularly regarding gender and abortion, in front of faithful who adhere to this ideology. But he also presented himself as a man saved by the hand of God in reference to the July 13 assassination attempt on him in Pennsylvania. “My faith has taken on new meaning” since that day “when I was thrown to the ground, basically by what seemed like a supernatural hand. And I'd like to think that God saved me for a purpose, and that's to make our country greater than it's ever been before,” he told a packed crowd. The candidate's relatives, including his son, also presented the Republican as the “greatest defender of religious freedom” among former presidents. In contrast, the Democratic camp has been denounced as a “very destructive outcome for religion”.
12:29 – Barack Obama, Kamala Harris's trump card for the final straight
11:33 – Without proof, Trump suspects the democratic camp of cheating
10:42 – Harris accuses Trump of not telling the whole story about his health (again)
10:16 – “God saved me for a specific purpose”: Trump courts Christians
09:41 – A very gendered campaign: Harris seeks the female vote and Trump wants to attract male voters
For once, the American campaign is very divided in several respects. The division of the electorate between the two main candidates is very clear, whether on geographical criteria (the coastal states are rather Democratic and those of the Midwest rather Republican) or ethno-racial (the vote of the majority of African-Americans and Latin-Americans goes to the Democratic camp). This could also be the case regarding gender, it is in any case a strategy put in place by Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The Democrat is addressing women in her campaign by making abortion rights one of her priorities along with women's health. She is also seeking to rally Republican voters to her cause and is taking advantage of the support of the very conservative Liz Cheney to do so. While the former congresswoman is fiercely opposed to abortion, she believes that only Kamala Harris can provide the necessary response to women's health care and invites her supporters to vote for the Democrat. “I just want to remind people that if you're worried, you can vote your conscience and never have to say a word to anybody. Millions of Republicans will do that on November 5th,” Liz Cheney insisted in urging the Republican electorate to vote Democrat.
For his part, Donald Trump is banking on winning over the male electorate. He already has the preference of a significant portion of white men, particularly those with fewer qualifications and those from rural backgrounds. But he is also attracting the sympathy of African-American and Latino male voters, which is something new. Generally speaking, the Republican is banking on a form of fraternity organized around the image of the strong man and very strong in the MAGA universe [Make America great again, editor's note] which is based on the nostalgia for “domination to the detriment of the other sex,” analyzes Le Monde. A more or less pronounced machismo which seems to appeal to a significant portion of the male electorate.
09:06 – Donald Trump campaigns among Latin Americans
Donald Trump, who is fighting against immigration, particularly Latino immigration, which he calls “problem number one”, is also campaigning with Latino voters two weeks before the presidential election. The Republican candidate is due to take part in a roundtable discussion with Latino voters at one of his Florida real estate properties. Several recent polls show that the billionaire is winning votes from this electorate, despite his violent statements against migrants and the migration policy he defends. These voters, compared to a part of the African-American male electorate, would be more excited by Donald Trump's political program, remembering a more favorable economic situation during the Republican's mandate than in recent years. The round table of this Tuesday, October 22, is also devoted to economic subjects.
The fact remains that Florida remains a state dominated by Republican ideology. But the erosion of the Latino vote for the Democratic camp is also observed in other states, including Pennsylvania, which is a key swing state. “Twenty years ago, between 70 and 80% of the Latino vote went to the Democrats, but today it is more like 60/40” explains for example Will Gonzales, an activist in the Latino and very popular Centro de Oro neighborhood, north of Philadelphia, to Franceinfo.
08:35 – Moderate Republicans in Kamala Harris' sights
Kamala Harris campaigned in the “Blue Wall”, that is, the belt of the three northern swing states usually won over to the Democratic camp – Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – on Monday, October 21. But if the candidate campaigned with Democrats, she also had the objective of attracting moderate Republicans in these states. She was also accompanied by former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney to gain sympathy from more conservative voters.
Kamala Harris' running mate Tim Walz also engaged in this seduction operation initiated by Republicans who might still be hesitant. The Midwesterner indicated during an interview on “The Daily Show” of Comedy Central that many Republicans are “trying to get permission to abandon the MAGA [Make America great again] thing and move on.” “These are people who want to find a reason not to vote for Donald Trump. We have to give them that reason,” he added.
Read also
What you need to know
The American presidential election will take place on November 5, 2024 and is mainly between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, despite the presence of a few other minor candidates in the race for the White House. The election promises to be particularly tight this year according to the various national polls or those conducted in each state. In the United States, it is the results of the state-by-state ballot that are decisive for the outcome of the election.
Each of the 50 states in the country represents a certain number of electors, the more populated the state, the greater the number of electors. It is ultimately these electors who vote for the future president of the United States. But the electors are not distributed to the Republican and Democratic camps proportionally to the results of the election, they all go to one and the same party: the one that obtained the highest score. To hope to win the presidential election, candidates must therefore win the ballot in as many states as possible to obtain the most electors possible. It is necessary to win 270 electors to be assured of victory.
The outcome of the election is already known in most American states that have very deep-rooted electoral habits: the territories on the east and west coasts are usually very progressive like California or New York and vote for the Democratic camp, those in the Midwest are rather conservative and mainly support the Republican party. But there are a handful of states, called swing states, which from one election to the next can swing from one camp to another. These are the states that decide the outcome of the election: Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.