MOMENTUM SHIFT
The momentum in the White House race has shifted dramatically since President Joe Biden abruptly pulled out on Jul 21, with Harris’ whirlwind entry enthusing the Democratic Party base.
A survey by the New York Times and Siena College published on Saturday had Harris storming back into contention in four critical battleground states that Trump had looked set to win comfortably against Biden.
The poll will likely trigger further consternation in Trump’s campaign team, with the vice president now ahead in Arizona and North Carolina, and getting closer in Nevada and Georgia.
At the rally on Saturday in Wilkes-Barre, Trump skewered Harris on her historic opposition to fracking – an unpopular stance in Pennsylvania which is the second-largest natural gas-producing US state after Texas.
But he spent far longer reviewing his debate performance against Biden back in June, and on meandering anecdotes about everyone from Italian screen legend Sophia Loren to French President Emmanuel Macron.
With polls showing the head-to-head race very close, it is the swing states – especially Pennsylvania – that will decide the final result under the United States electoral college system.
Trump lost the state by a narrow margin against Biden in 2020 but has strong support in rural areas and small towns.
A separate New York Times-Siena poll last week showed Harris narrowly ahead in Pennsylvania and the two other northern battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
Harris will be in Pennsylvania on Sunday, making several stops on her campaign bus near Pittsburgh before heading to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention that opens on Monday.
She will be hoping to sustain her poll momentum at the four-day event which will include keynote speeches from party leaders like Biden and former president Barack Obama.
Harris will round out the proceedings on Thursday evening with her own speech to formally accept the party nomination.
Source: CNA
