The 100-day race to the U.S. election kicks off on Sunday, the final stretch of a campaign transformed by an assassination attempt and the surprise resignation of President Joe Biden.
After weeks of infighting and frustration over Biden’s candidacy, Democrats have united behind Vice President Kamala Harris, completely reshaping the Nov. 5 election that was fast becoming a loser for Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Harris’s candidacy has apparently revitalized the Democratic campaign, which said Sunday it had raised $200 million — mostly from first-time donors — since Biden dropped out of the race a week ago and threw his endorsement at her for the vice presidential pick.
A new Wall Street Journal poll showed that Harris, with surging support among black, Latino and young voters, has narrowed Biden’s six-point gap with Trump to just two points — well within the margin of error.
But David Lee, the Republican pollster who conducted the Journal survey, cautioned Democrats not to be swayed by the election results.
“Donald Trump is in a much better position in this election than he was in 2020,” Lee said.
Even if the race is closely contested nationally, Trump still has an edge given the mathematics of the Electoral College system for electing the president.
Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 came after he trailed by nearly three million votes in the nationwide popular vote.
‘We are Dalits’
“We’re the underdog in this race,” Harris acknowledged at a fundraiser Saturday.
“But this is a people-driven campaign and we have momentum,” he added.
The Democratic convention in mid-August will attempt to continue that momentum with a celebration of Harris’s candidacy.
A month ago, everything looked completely different.
The 81-year-old Biden was seen as an outsider candidate at best, due to voters’ concerns about his age and mental acuity, and was trailing his predecessor, and was the first presidential contest since Dwight Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson in 1956.
Biden’s disappointing debate performance on June 27 sparked concern and panic within his party.
The flames were further fueled by a seemingly innocent display of unity in support of the 78-year-old Trump at the Republican National Convention — an event that was inspired by a failed attempt to assassinate the former president at a rally in Pennsylvania just days earlier.
After initial defiance, Biden bowed to the inevitable and withdrew from the election last weekend.
Harris, 59, tried her luck in the electoral field – turning a dull contest between two unpopular, older, white male candidates into a dynamic and unpredictable contest.
The final outcome on Nov. 5 will likely be determined by the roughly 100,000 independent, undecided voters in a handful of states, whom both campaigns will focus on intensely over the next three months.
Harris Honeymoon
The challenge for Harris is huge. Once Republicans have adapted to her candidacy and sharpened their attack strategy, they are ready to corner her on key voter issues such as immigration and rising prices.
Democratic strategist James Carville told MSNBC that Democrats need to stop talking happy and prepare for the coming storm.
“They are attacking us and they will continue to attack us. This kind of enthusiasm will not help much longer, because this is the situation we have to face now,” he said.
Even former President Barack Obama has warned against arrogance, underscoring Harris’s underdog status and her need to win voters’ trust.
Trump, who has seen his favorability ratings soar since the July 13 attempt on his life and the successful Republican convention, made clear his attack priorities at a rally Saturday in the traditionally Democratic state of Minnesota.
Trump lied and mocked Harris for her stance on abortion, labeling her a “crazy liberal” and “radical leftist.”
“We have a brand new victim,” he told his cheering supporters.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
