In Philadelphia, at the foot of the steps of the city’s famous art museum, people are busy setting up the stage and stands. It is here that Kamala Harris will end her campaign on Monday evening the 4th, in a major event intended to leave an impression and mobilize voters. Donald Trump will complete his third presidential campaign in another state in the “Rust Belt”, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Last weekend of campaign
At this stage, it is no longer a question of convincing the undecided or even less of changing the minds of his opponent’s supporters, but of mobilizing the troops for the final sprint. The two candidates are engaged in “a blitzkrieg” of meetings. On Saturday, Donald Trump started the day in Gastonia, North Carolina, before traveling to Salem, Virginia, then returning to North Carolina for a big meeting in Greensboro.
At the end of the campaign, the former president tried to silence the latest controversies that he himself triggered. He also confirmed that he intended to entrust an important health post to Robert Kennedy Jr, nephew of President John Kennedy. “RFK Jr”, a former candidate in the Democratic primary against Joe Biden, rallied behind Donald Trump in August. A lawyer specializing in environmental causes, Robert Kennedy Jr then attacked the pharmaceutical industry, to the point of taking up anti-vax conspiracy theories, particularly during the pandemic.
Kamala Harris on the field in North Carolina and Michigan
A southern state, North Carolina has only voted Democratic once since 1976. It was in 2008, during the first election of Barack Obama. However, Kamala Harris believes she can repeat the feat of 2008, thanks to the mobilization of the African-American electorate and the influx of young graduates in this dynamic region of the country. On Saturday, she went to Charlotte, where she recalled the age difference between her and her opponent: “It’s time for a new generation to lead America. And I am ready to deliver this new direction as President of the United States. »
This Sunday, she will go to Michigan. The state of Detroit, heavyweight in the automobile industry, has been hotly contested since Donald Trump’s victory in 2016. Kamala Harris has learned the lessons of the defeat of Hillary Clinton, who had neglected the “blue wall”, the industrial, unionized states acquired, in theory, by the Democratic Party. But there also lives in Michigan an Arab-American minority angry against the American policy of support for Israel…
Some 74 million Americans have already voted
Since the 1990s, American voters have had a little more flexibility to vote early every four years, allowing them to choose for themselves when to vote. This relaxation was implemented gradually to combat abstention, in a country where the election always takes place on a weekday – a Tuesday. This year, voters once again took advantage of this possibility, further expanded during the pandemic in 2020. Three days before the election, some 74 million Americans have already voted.
Unsurprisingly, this figure is down, on the same day, compared to 2020, a pandemic election: nearly 92 million people had voted in 2020. But at the time, many feared voting on D-day and having to face queues, and therefore taking a risk. Another notable difference: in 2020, Donald Trump rejected early voting and postal voting, discouraging Republicans from using these possibilities. This is not the case in 2024.
