Harris tries to win over voters ambivalent about both candidates in an effort to recreate a president Joe Bidenthe anti-Trump coalition of four years ago, which extends from Bernie Sanders the socialist left to the end Liz Cheney former center-right Republicans.

This has led Harris to attempt to downplay issues that could divide this coalition, such as fracking and foreign policy, while remaining ambiguous about how liberal she will be on most policy areas aside from abortion.

Harris has officially abandoned many of the positions she took during her 2019 presidential campaign, when she attempted to run to Biden’s left during the Democratic primaries, but primarily through her aides rather than by his own voice. A recent Axios report called her a “no comment candidate.” When asked how she voted in favor of a California ballot initiative that would strengthen criminal penalties for shoplifting and drug trafficking, for example, she replied: “I’m not going to talk about the vote on this topic because, honestly, it’s the Sunday before the election. »

THESE EIGHT STATES WILL LIKELY DECIDE WHO WILL WIN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The vice president delayed major media interviews after replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic field and made only one confrontation on Fox News. The advantage of this strategy has been to avoid giving Republicans easy opportunities to attack her as too liberal, but it carries the risk that voters will feel like they don’t know her. The progressive base is also more agitated than in 2020, with Israel’s war in Gaza particularly creating fissures among Democrats. Harris, like many Democrats in competitive Senate races this year, is trying to tack to the center.

Trump, on the other hand, applies more of a grassroots participation strategy. He tried to appeal to former anti-establishment Democrats. A campaign ad at the end of the campaign presents Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. ancient RFK collaborator Nicole Shanahan and Tulsi Gabbard alongside the senator, Trump’s running mate. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Pro-Trump social media accounts describe all five of them and the former president as the Avengers.

In the final weeks of the campaign, Trump sought to rally his diehard supporters and these disenchanted new progressive converts, with little emphasis on conservatives who might like his policies but disapprove of his temperament and judgment. This task was entrusted to former UN ambassador Nikki Haley on Sunday. opinion article for the Wall Street Journal.

“Millions of people love Donald Trump and millions of people hate him,” Haley opened. “Each group will vote accordingly.” She mentioned the Jan. 6 Capitol riot prominently in her list of Trump’s “excesses.” But, she argued, the race is not just a referendum on Trump, as The Democrats would have it.

“I do not agree 100% with Mr. Trump,” Haley wrote. “But I agree with him most of the time, and I almost always disagree with Ms. Harris. This makes the decision easy.

Haley spoke at the Republican National Convention, but she has yet to appear with Trump on the campaign trail. Trump failed to appeal to current and former Republicans who distrust him in much of his closing argument, sparking controversy with Liz Cheney’s remarks on Chickenhawk they were widely misinterpreted as a call for the Harris-supporting ex-Republican lawmaker to be shot. He did not stay silent and let his ads or the seemingly Republican Party-friendly national environment speak for him.

Trump instead maintained a busy rally schedule, cultivating his close emotional connection with his supporters and engaging in political showmanship demonstrations. Harris can’t match that kind of performance, but he also can’t come close to his rigid message discipline.

The two candidates enter election day tied at the national level. RealClearPolitics poll average. Trump has his best chance of winning the popular vote in his three presidential campaigns, while Harris’ supporters received a shock boost. Register of Monks poll which showed the Democratic candidate ahead in Iowawhich would support the idea that white anti-Trump voters could deliver him the presidency.

On the eve of Election Day, the campaigns reflected their different approaches. “We think this race is going to be incredibly close,” Harris campaign chairwoman Jennifer O’Malley Dillon told reporters, noting that vote counting could drag on in some states. “We strive to remain calm and confident throughout this period throughout the process.”

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“President Donald J. Trump is heading into Election Day stronger than in any previous election and if patriots across the country maintain their momentum and come out on Election Day as planned, we will swear in President Trump in January” , said the Trump campaign official. » Tim Saler wrote in a note published Monday.

Campaigns channel their candidates, with Trump and his team being swaggering while Harris and hers are being cautious. We will soon see which of them correctly read the electorate.