Florida, United States.– Hurricane “Milton” could become a key player in the close electoral contest in the United States, 27 days before the presidential elections between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
The way in which the federal Administration reacts, in terms of speed and the money granted to manage the crisis, “will have a rebound effect in political matters,” Dr. Iliana Rodríguez-Santibañez, researcher and Professor of International Law at the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
“The parties are going to try to capitalize on the negative to hit their political opponent. “In this case, in the context of such close elections, the closer a meteorological phenomenon occurs to the date of the vote, for of course it has a transcendental impact”.
For Rodríguez-Santibañez, the main impact could be in the hinge states, which could finally determine electoral preferences and lead to victory for Harris or Trump.
“What both Democrats and Republicans are going to be paying attention to is how Biden and his government are going to manage the ‘Milton’ crisis,” said the specialist. “We must see the speed of the federal response, see whether aid to victims is politicized or not, even look at the financial issue, how much was allocated with Hurricane ‘Helene’ to the affected states and how much aid will be given to Florida on this occasion; (political rivals) can try to make visible that there is no equity in the distribution.” Rodríguez-Santibañez added that the undecided will begin to play a key role. “Florida is Republican, (although) there is a presence of Democrats. It is true that you can change parties and you can make the decision to vote for one or the other, but it is more difficult, because this is already a tough vote. The The impact of “Milton” would be on undecided people (…) They will be watching how the situation is handled,” he explained. The specialist also warned about the risk of the hurricane complicating election day, which is less than a month away. “We must not lose sight of whether the State is going to be able to guarantee the right to vote in the areas that are going to be damaged, because, so close to an electoral process, like the one on November 5, the big question is whether the conditions of the infrastructure and the possibility of voting. “Evidently, if this is not done with legal certainty for the voter, then the perception is going to be tremendously negative, and it could move the vote of the undecided,” said Rodríguez. Santibañez. Not only meteorological phenomena could impact the election, according to the specialist. “What about wars? “Biden is clearly paying for the lack of force to criticize the Netanyahu Government regarding the excessive use of force and violations of international law,” he stressed.
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