Uncertainty reigns coming into the ultimate full week of the 2024 marketing campaign with Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump locked in a fiercely aggressive presidential contest. What occurs within the coming days will probably be pivotal in deciding the winner.
This is what we’re watching this week:
Can Trump keep on message (comparatively talking)?
Even earlier than the week started, Trump’s marketing campaign risked being knocked off beam by controversy. A rally at New York Metropolis’s Madison Sq. Backyard late Sunday that was meant to function a closing message was as a substitute overshadowed by racist insults, together with a comic who referred to as Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
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And with eight days to go till Election Day, historical past suggests Trump is just about assured to say or do one thing else controversial within the ultimate stretch. The one query is whether or not it can break via.
Donald Trump speaks at a marketing campaign rally at Madison Sq. Backyard, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York.
If there’s one factor we all know, it’s that Trump can’t assist himself. He’s been utilizing authoritarian-style rhetoric in current days to counsel that his Democratic opponents, whom he calls “ the enemy within,” are extra harmful to the nation than the risk posed by Russia and China.
Democrats will probably be combing via each Trump interview and public look for one thing just like exploit. There are additionally a number of ongoing prison investigations into Trump, who has already been convicted of 34 felony expenses, that would reveal new data.
But Democrats are the primary to confess that voter opinions of Trump is so hardened that it might take one thing actually gorgeous to vary the course of the election.
Will Harris’ closing message harness Democrats’ nervousness?
It will be an understatement to explain Democrats as anxious as Election Day looms. However there was a deliberate effort by Harris’ senior staff over the weekend to venture optimism to assist mood the worry.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks throughout a group rally on the Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Heart, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Philadelphia.
Harris senior adviser Jen O’Malley Dillon predicted victory on MSNBC on Sunday: “We are confident we’re going to win this thing,” she stated. “We’re seeing extraordinary enthusiasm. This is going to be a close race, and our campaign is exactly where we want to be.”
Harris will attempt to alleviate Democratic nervousness additional on Tuesday when she delivers her “closing argument” on the Ellipse, the identical spot close to the White Home the place Trump spoke on Jan. 6, 2021, shortly earlier than his supporters attacked the Capitol.
Harris is anticipated to focus her remarks on the hazard Trump poses to U.S. democracy. She has referred to as her Republican rival “a fascist” in current days. And he or she’s been joined by an unlikely ally, Trump’s former chief of employees John Kelly, who has additionally described Trump as a fascist not too long ago.
However she’s anticipated to hit broader themes as properly, encouraging voters to look behind her on the White Home and picture who will probably be sitting on the Resolute Desk at a second of nice consequence. She’s aiming to drive house the stakes of the Nov. 5 election for undecided voters—particularly reasonable Republicans who could also be uncomfortable with Trump’s divisive management and excessive rhetoric. And whereas Harris’ staff is betting that there’s a important variety of moderates who can nonetheless be persuaded, progressive Democrats are fearful she’s not targeted sufficient on financial points within the marketing campaign’s closing days.
RELATED STORY: No noise, simply coverage: The place the candidates stand on the economic system
Democratic nervousness, we’ve discovered, could also be a reality of life.
The place will they go?
The candidates’ evolving journey schedules will inform us a lot in regards to the battlegrounds that may matter most on Election Day.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz greets the gang at a Harris-Walz marketing campaign’s “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour cease and canvass kick-off occasion exterior their marketing campaign workplace in Henderson, Nevada, on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024.
Right here’s what we all know for positive: Harris and Trump are aggressively competing in simply seven swing states that may in the end determine the election. They’re the three so-called “Blue Wall” states—Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—along with Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina.
For a political perspective, nonetheless, not each one of many seven is created equal.
Harris spent Sunday in Pennsylvania, which will be the election’s largest prize. Harris is subsequent scheduled to go to Michigan. And after Tuesday’s closing argument in Washington, she plans to go to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on Wednesday alone. She heads to Nevada and Arizona on Thursday.
What can we learn about Trump’s schedule? He’s booked to host at the least one rally each day subsequent week: Monday in Georgia, Tuesday in Pennsylvania, Wednesday in Wisconsin, Thursday in Nevada, Friday in Wisconsin once more, and Saturday in Virginia.
However as a reminder, these schedules are more likely to change primarily based on the campaigns’ intelligence on the bottom.
Will the early voting surge proceed?
Greater than 41 million votes have already been solid within the election nationwide. Democrats typically have a bonus in early voting, however thus far, at the least, Republicans are collaborating at a a lot greater price than they’ve prior to now.
The query: Will it final?
Trump, after all, has for years inspired his supporters to solid solely in-person ballots on Election Day. The follow put the GOP at a major drawback. He largely reversed course in current months as he and his celebration acknowledged the plain advantage of with the ability to financial institution their votes as early as attainable.
Due to the Republican participation, the early turnout was breaking information final week in swing states comparable to Georgia and North Carolina.
However with the GOP extra targeted on “election integrity” fairly than a standard get-out-the-vote operation, it’s unclear whether or not the uptick in Republican early voting will proceed. Democrats hope it gained’t.
How exhausting will Trump work to undermine election outcomes?
Historical past might someday determine that probably the most important factor Trump stated within the closing days of the 2024 election is the factor that many citizens barely discover anymore: his persistent warnings that this election is rigged towards him.
RELATED STORY: This is how Trump allies suppose he’ll act on election evening
Supporters of Donald Trump maintain up flags throughout a Trump rally in Northbrook, Illinois, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024.
Certainly, as Election Day approaches, Trump is more and more warning his supporters that he’ll lose on Nov. 5 provided that his political opponents cheat. Such statements don’t have any foundation the truth is. There was no proof of serious voter fraud within the 2020 election, which Trump misplaced, and there’s no proof that Trump’s adversaries can or will rig this election towards him both.
Nonetheless, Trump’s unfounded warnings make an already tense and violent election season much more fraught. And there are actual threats that international adversaries—particularly Russia, China and Iran—will meddle within the election.
On the identical time, the Republican Nationwide Committee has invested tens of tens of millions of {dollars} into an operation to mobilize 1000’s of polling place screens, ballot staff and attorneys to function “election integrity” watchdogs. Democrats are fearful that the trouble might result in harassment of election staff and undermine belief within the vote.
RELATED STORY: Trump teases ‘secret’ election plan as majority thinks he gained’t concede
Each events are aggressively making ready for lengthy authorized battles irrespective of who wins.
Marketing campaign Motion
Supporters of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump maintain up flags throughout a Trump rally in Northbrook, Sick., Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024.
