Judgement day: Trump or Harris?

On Wednesday or November 6 (Manila Time) millions of Americans and US citizens will troop to the polling stations to elect their next president, and it is still a toss up between Republican former president Donald Trump and outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat.

As of Tuesday, at least 78 million Americans have cast early ballots, including about 700,000 more Democrats than Republicans, according to data published by the University of Florida Election Lab. There are more than 160 million voters in the United States.

The 2024 race to the White House can be considered a close one.

Turkish press service Anadolu said that “most polling showing them (Trump and Harris) narrowly split by between 1% and 3%, well within the margin of error on most of the surveys,” indicating a close fight.

Also, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are the seven key swing states.

As to the temper of the polls, outgoing President Joe Biden said in early October that he doubts whether it will be peaceful.

“I’m confident it (the election) will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful,” he said when asked during a briefing at the White House, as quoted by Anadolu.

“The things that (former president and Republican candidate Donald) Trump has said and the things that he said last time around when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous,” Biden added.

“They haven’t even accepted the outcome of the last election. So, I’m concerned about what they are going to do,” he said.

Biden, however, became controversial himself as he called Trump supporters “garbage” last week.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been,” Biden said, referring to Trump.

He later clarified his stand on X, seeking to control the damage.

“Earlier today, I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage – which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable,” he said.

ECONOMIC AND OTHER ISSUES

A Gallup Poll conducted in September showed that economic issues ranks as the most important of the 22 issues that will influence voters in the US.

“It is the only issue on which a majority of voters, 52%, say the candidates’ positions on it are an ‘extremely important’ influence on their vote. Another 38% of voters rate the economy as ‘very important,’ which means the issue could be a significant factor to nine in 10 voters,” Gallup Poll said in its website.

Also, Trump is perceived as better in handling economic issues, immigration and foreign affairs.

“Voters view Donald Trump as better able than Kamala Harris to handle the economy, 54% versus 45%. Trump also has an edge on perceptions of his handling of immigration (+9 percentage points) and foreign affairs (+5),” Gallup poll said.

As for Harris, she is seen better in handling climate change, abortion and healthcare issues.

“….while Harris is seen as better on climate change (+26), abortion (+16) and healthcare (+10). The candidates are evenly matched on voters’ impressions of who would better address gun policy,” it added.

(IMAGE FROM ANADOLU)