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 Monday during a meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Polls more uncertain than ever
Peppered with dramatic events, including two assassination attempts targeting Donald Trump, this race for the White House was also marked by all the escalations 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.
The United States, a federal country, has a system of indirect universal suffrage, crowning the candidate who manages to gather a majority of the 538 electors, or at least 270.
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The importance of Pennsylvania
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.
Electrician of this State, Yvonne Tinsley, a 35-year-old accountant, came to see the vice-president, saying she dreamed of “a return to normal”.
“We have the opportunity to finally turn the page on a decade of political project driven by fear and division. We have had enough,” echoed Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor and then senator from California, born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother.
For her last meeting, which according to her team brought together 30,000 people, Kamala Harris carefully chose the decor.
She spoke in Philadelphia, the cradle of American democracy, at the foot of a large staircase immortalized in the film “Rocky”, wanting to see there “a symbol of those who are given losers at the start and who climb to the top. victory. »
A little before, the star Lady Gaga had called on stage to vote for Kamala Harris, emphasizing that “women would participate in the decision” on Tuesday. Defending the right to abortion is a major campaign theme for the vice-president.
“Enemies from within”
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 describes his opponents as “enemies from within”, is a “fascist” driven by revenge and his thirst for “unlimited power” is hammering the Democrats.
But in his meetings, the Trumpists are not put off.
Ethan Wells, a 19-year-old restaurant worker, confides his enthusiasm: “When Trump was president, no one messed with America.”
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.
