Kamala Harris gives her all in the final stretch | El Diario Vasco

The summer season is over, the final stretch of the election campaign begins. Traditionally, those who are not particularly interested in politics start paying attention after the Labor Day holiday, which the US celebrated on Monday. With the candidates practically tied, television ads and rallies are multiplying, which Kamala Harris is giving these days on a bus tour through Florida.

Trump’s state is not in play, the polls say it is, but Harris is spending time in a handful of strongholds where she has little chance of winning, in order to not give up anything. In Florida, the referendum on abortion to reject the law that limits it to six weeks of gestation offers her the opportunity to capitalize on the women’s vote.

According to a Siena College poll for the New York Times, the Democratic candidate has changed the vote of many young women between 18 and 29 who were not going to vote for Joe Biden. 10% are more inclined to support her on the ballot, compared to 5% of young people, but the results are not the same: women lean towards Harris 67% to 29%, while men lean towards Trump 53% to 40%.

Harris has $540 million raised in her first month in her coffers, so she plans to distribute $24.5 million to Democratic groups supporting referendums, as well as $10 million for congressional candidates. Just as Nancy Pelosi feared that Biden’s erosion would drag down the slim Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, his withdrawal has brought back to life competitive seats that seemed lost. These are the 13th Congressional District in Ohio and the fifth in Oregon, as well as the Senate candidacy in Minnesota, where the former governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, boasts of being one of the few Republicans who has never yielded to Trump.

The Democratic candidate finds her best niche among anti-Trump Republicans, especially Nikki Haley’s voters who were agonizing over whether to vote for him or support Biden. As much as the tycoon’s campaign tries to paint her as a radical left-wing extremist, she has not yet had enough time to tattoo that on the electorate. Harris’s campaign plans to combat it with $370 million in advertising between now and November 5.

With Biden

On Monday, Labor Day, while Trump and his vice president were resting, with no rallies planned for the tycoon this week, Harris joined President Biden for the first time since she became a candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania. It was time to adopt protectionism when vetoing the purchase of the US Steel steel mill by the Japanese company Nippon Steel, which has offered 15 million dollars for it. “US Steel will remain American,” she promised the unions.

The campaign has hit the highway. On Tuesday, in Philadelphia, Harris and Trump will debate for the first time, just in time to influence the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, who will be able to vote by mail starting on the 16th. Or those of Minnesota and Virginia, who will do so in person starting on the 20th, thanks to early voting.

The glass is either half full or half empty, depending on how you look at it. Harris has brought back states like Nevada and Georgia, where she is trailing within the margin of error, and has a slight lead in North Carolina and Arizona. According to the Siena College poll, she has neutralised Trump’s dominance in the economy and crime among Hispanics, but another national ABC poll indicates that she has not gained any substantial advantage after the Democratic Party convention, as she is still four points ahead on the national average.

Both are trying to break away with substantially different strategies. The former president, more relaxed, relies on his captains to mobilize like-minded but apathetic groups. Harris, giving her all in the battleground states with rallies and visits to cafes and shops. We will have to wait until November 5 to see which formula works.