Presidential election: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, the United States at the time of choice

These are the final hours of a breathtaking campaign for the White House: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are on stage for their final electoral rallies, on the eve of a vote with crucial issues for the United States and the rest of the world . This presidential election sees two radically opposed personalities, separated by almost two decades, confront each other.

On one side, the current Democratic vice-president, who in July replaced aging leader Joe Biden at short notice. Kamala Harris, 60, can become on Tuesday the first woman to lead the largest economic and military power on the planet.

On the other, former President Donald Trump, 78, author of a spectacular political comeback after leaving the White House in 2021 in a chaotic context, having escaped two impeachment procedures and having been convicted in court.

“We’ve been waiting for this for four years. Four years,” the Republican said on Monday during a meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before launching into new diatribes against migrants, then setting off for the last rally of his campaign, in Michigan.

Priority to “swing states”

Interspersed with dramatic events, first and foremost two assassination attempts targeting Donald Trump, this race for the White House was also marked by all the outbidding in a fractured country. Each of the two rivals says they are confident in their victory.

If we believe the polls, everything will be decided by just a few tens of thousands of votes, in seven so-called pivotal states. It is therefore logically in Pennsylvania, which offers the most electors of these “swing states”, that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are throwing their last forces.

In the evening, the vice-president, a former prosecutor and then senator from California, born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, took part in a door-to-door campaign with voters. Before a meeting in Pittsburgh, where she said: “The momentum is on our side.” The Democratic candidate has otherwise resumed her big promises: embody a “new generation”, restore federal protection of the right to abortion and support the middle class.

For her very last meeting, Kamala Harris did not skimp on symbols: it will be in Philadelphia, the cradle of American democracy, and at the foot of a grand staircase immortalized in the film “Rocky”.

“Enemies from within”

And this campaign has sometimes taken on the appearance of a boxing match. On Monday, Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, did not hesitate to call Kamala Harris “trash.” The former president further fueled tensions in a country on edge by beginning to question the integrity of voting operations.

Kamala Harris’ team said they “expect” the Republican to declare himself the winner prematurely, as he did in 2020. The former real estate mogul, who calls his opponents ” enemies from within”, is a “fascist” driven by revenge and his thirst for “unlimited power” hammers the Democrats.

Nearly 80 million Americans, including Kamala Harris, have already voted early, out of 244 million voters. His rival is expected to vote for him in person on Tuesday near his residence in Florida. What happens next remains the great unknown. Donald Trump has never acknowledged his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, after which his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

At least three states, Washington, Nevada and Oregon, have mobilized National Guard reservists. Elsewhere in the country, some polling stations will be monitored by drones and snipers on rooftops. In the federal capital, metal barriers are erected around the White House, the Capitol and other sensitive sites.

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