What makes this campaign different from those of 2016 and 2020 in the minds of Americans?
I think the main difference lies in the attitude of the voters. Women are extremely angry and driven. They were already very angry after 2016, when the candidate who received the most votes did not become president. The year 2020 was a huge relief. Biden was the adult we needed after the previous four years, but no one was really enthusiastic. We saw some anger resurface during the 2022 midterm elections, but now the consequences of the Dobbs decision [décision de la Cour suprême, du 24 juin 2022, par laquelle elle statue que la Constitution ne confère pas de droit à l’avortement, ndlr] are clear. This is what makes 2024 different from all previous elections: women have lost rights. One of the presidential candidates brags about taking them away and promises to take even more of them away from us. If Kamala wins by a large margin, it will be because pollsters and analysts will have underestimated women's anger.
As an expat living in Nice, do you feel more distant from American politics, or does the distance act like a magnifying glass trained on your native country?
I try to distance myself, having lived far from my country for more than twenty years. But I've worked in politics, my friends work in politics and I love it, so I can't really break away from it. I think Americans don't realize how quickly the situation can deteriorate. The warning signs are there, and a substantial portion of the American electorate is OK with a candidate who openly promotes a fascist ideology and billionaire oligarchs who openly seek to influence the campaign. I'm not optimistic.
Do you perceive any interest from the French population in this election and its outcome?
I live in Nice, the “Florida of France”, so I choose not to raise the subject of politics with my neighbors. But I often wonder what my experience would have been as an immigrant in France if I had not been a white woman.
