- Trump & Harris Campaigns: Trump rallies in Wilkes-Barre; Harris tours Pittsburgh
- Poll Results: Harris leads Trump in Arizona, North Carolina; narrows gap in Georgia, Nevada
- Harris Campaign Impact: Reenergized race; leads in key battleground states
This weekend, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will host campaign events in Pennsylvania, a vital US swing state, as the fight for president heats up ahead of the November election.
Trump will have a rally in the small town of Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, and Harris is scheduled to make numerous stops on a bus tour of Pittsburgh on Sunday.
The emphasis on Pennsylvania, one of several battleground states considered to be vital in deciding the election, coincides with recent polling showing a close race between the Republican and Democratic candidates in key sections of the country.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released on Saturday revealed that Harris, who launched her campaign after President Joe Biden suspended his re-election attempt last month, had gained ground in four states where Trump appeared to have a comfortable lead over Biden.
According to the poll, the US vice president and Democratic contender led Trump among likely voters in Arizona and North Carolina while narrowing the former Republican president’s lead in Georgia and Nevada.
An earlier New York Times/Siena College poll released last week found Harris with 50 percent support among voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, compared to Trump’s 46 percent in each state.
Harris’ presidential campaign has reenergized an electoral race that had previously failed to enthuse many Americans who were dissatisfied with the choice between Trump and Biden.
The two had faced off in 2020, with Biden defeating his predecessor in a campaign that Trump erroneously claimed was tainted by massive corruption.
Trump narrowly lost to Biden in Pennsylvania that election, but he has great support in rural and small communities.
With Harris now leading the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket, Trump has failed to devise an effective counter-campaign strategy.
Trump’s team’s recent pronouncements have concentrated on problems such as immigration and inflation, but he has also spent a significant amount of time in recent speeches attacking Harris’s identity.
“Hard-working Americans are suffering because of the Harris-Biden administration’s dangerously liberal policies,” the Trump campaign stated in a statement ahead of Saturday’s rally in Wilkes-Barre.
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“Prices are excruciatingly high, the cost of living has soared, crime has skyrocketed, and illegal immigrants are pouring into our country,” it added, even though a recent crackdown on the US-Mexico border has slowed much of the flow of migrants and asylum seekers.
He again slammed Harris on Thursday over the economy, claiming she has a “very strong communist lean” that will lead to the “death of the American dream”.
Harris, who will attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, has promised to “bring down costs and increase economic security for all Americans”.
On Friday, in one of her first major policy addresses of the campaign, she presented a list of suggestions she claimed would help stimulate the economy and battle “price gouging” in food.
“I will be laser-focussed on creating opportunities for the middle class,” Harris told an audience of supporters in North Carolina. “Together, we will build what I call an opportunity economy.”
