Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are both campaigning in the key swing state of Pennsylvania this weekend, just before the vice president, who continues to make significant gains in the polls, flies to the Democratic Party’s convention.
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The former president held a rally Saturday afternoon in a small town in eastern Pennsylvania, while his rival will board a bus Sunday to crisscross several counties in the western part of the state, which is crucial for the November presidential election.
Kamala Harris will then travel to Chicago to celebrate her inauguration at a major rally of her party, which united around her after the explosion caused by Joe Biden’s withdrawal of his candidacy at the end of July.
Since then, the good polls have been piling up for the candidate, who would become the first female president of the United States if she were elected.
A new opinion poll published on Saturday by the New York Times and Siena College now shows Kamala Harris leading in the key states of Arizona and North Carolina. She has also closed in on her opponent in Georgia and Nevada.
Last week, a similar poll in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania showed her slightly ahead of Donald Trump.
But all of these states are likely to swing the outcome of the election, which is expected to be extremely close.
Faced with the momentum gained by the Democratic campaign, Donald Trump is struggling to find a way around it, despite a growing number of speeches – such as a last-minute press conference in New Jersey on Thursday, which was deemed particularly disjointed.
Battle over the economy
In Pennsylvania, where he was the target of an assassination attempt in July, Donald Trump renewed his attacks on Kamala Harris on Saturday, once again calling her “crazy” and criticizing her record on inflation, during a rally in Wilkes-Barre.
In 2020, the 78-year-old billionaire narrowly lost to Joe Biden in this key state, but he still enjoys strong support in rural areas and small towns.
The Republican’s campaign team would like him to focus more on his messages around immigration and inflation rather than on direct attacks targeting his rival, which do not necessarily have an impact on undecided voters.
“American workers are suffering because of the dangerously liberal policies of the Biden-Harris administration,” his team said in a statement ahead of the rally.
But on Thursday, Donald Trump said he felt “legitimized” in personally attacking the Democrat, whom he called a “communist” and whose “intelligence” he questioned.
The two candidates clashed over the economy this week, with the former president blaming the Democrat for “devastating” price increases while she presented herself as a champion of the middle class.
The 59-year-old candidate put forward some concrete proposals during a trip to North Carolina on Friday, such as the construction of three million new homes.
Building enthusiasm
On Sunday, Kamala Harris will be joined by her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and their respective spouses for a bus tour that will begin in the city of Pittsburgh but will also pass through a “historically conservative” county, according to her campaign.
The goal will be to fortify and even “extend” Joe Biden’s success in the state four years ago. And to continue to seek to distinguish itself from the dark vision painted by Donald Trump.
Then the former California prosecutor will travel to Chicago, where she will have to consolidate the enthusiasm generated by her entry into the race just a month ago, giving her camp hope of being able to win at the polls.
She will receive support from Joe Biden – reduced to a role of room warmer after being pushed to give up a second term because of concerns about his vitality – and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, before speaking herself on Thursday evening.
