One of the tightest US election races of modern times enters its final, two-week stretch Tuesday, with Republican Donald Trump making a special pitch to Latino voters as Democratic rival Kamala Harris sits down for a national network interview.
Both campaigns are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into a final push for any wavering, undecided voters who could tilt the balance in their favour, with polls consistently showing their candidates in a dead heat ahead of Election Day.
Whatever the outcome, Americans will make history on November 5: they will either elect the first woman president in the world’s leading superpower — or they will put the first convicted felon into the White House.
Polls appear to be giving Trump, who at 78 is the oldest nominee from a major party in US history, a slight edge recently — but all within the margin of error, making them little comfort for a former president making his third consecutive White House run.
Vice President Harris — who only threw herself into the race in July, when President Joe Biden made the stunning decision to drop out and endorse her instead — will give a television interview to NBC on Tuesday.
The 60-year-old, who celebrated her birthday over the weekend, will also deploy one of her party’s most popular emissaries back into the field: Barack Obama.
The former Democratic president will hold a series of rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan, two of the seven most hotly contested swing states in the election which, under the US system of indirect universal suffrage, are likely to decide the outcome.
Trump, whose anti-migrant rhetoric is becoming coarser and more extreme by the day, will take part in a roundtable discussion with Latino voters at one of his Florida properties.
The Republican will then fly to North Carolina, another swing state where he also campaigned on Monday, for an event that is supposed to be devoted to the economy.
He rarely sticks to the topic at his rallies, however — instead, he has been criticized for a tumultuous few weeks that have featured rambling monologues and threats about weaponizing the military against Democrats who he calls “the enemy from within.”
One recent televised town hall veered into a surreal, impromptu music session as Trump abandoned discussion of the election to play his favorite hits while swaying on stage.
The Harris campaign has begun to hammer at his mental and physical fitness to serve.
But a tide of MAGA-capped supporters continue to flock to his rallies, convinced that he is the victim of political persecution, or that Democrats are instigating threats against him.
Democrats are also seeking to woo moderate Republicans turned off by Trump’s ominous rhetoric and scandals.
Harris has sought to frame herself as a “joyful warrior” seeking to turn the page on Trump’s years of outrage and move into a new generation of American political leadership.
More than 15 million Americans have already voted by mail or in person, according to the independent organization Elections Project, representing around 10 percent of the total turnout in 2020.
AFP
