LOOK: How Kamala Harris raised a record-breaking $81 million in just 24 hours
The latest polls also improved slightly for her. Although they were conducted before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, the 21st, and presented a scenario that was hypothetical at the time, the polls gave Harris more options than the current president against Republican Donald Trump, who, however, still has the advantage to win the national election.
The YouGov poll for CBS News gave Trump a five-point lead over Biden (52% to 47%) and just three over Harris (51% to 48%). The NBC News poll also put the Republican ahead by the same margin (45% to 43% for Biden and 47% to 45% for Harris).
With less than four months to convince Americans to vote for her, Harris stressed in Wisconsin that the November election is “a choice between freedom and chaos” and used her past as a prosecutor to portray Trump as a criminal. She also dedicated her speech to ensuring that social issues, and in particular the right to abortion, will be at the center of her campaign, a highly anticipated statement when many citizens are waiting to learn more about her positions on key issues for the country.
Dr. Nevena Trajkov, chair of the Department of Political Science at Jacksonville University in Florida, notes that Harris and Trump are not only different in style – despite her concise approach, the vice president lacks the charisma that Trump and Biden possess – but the contrasts are substantial in the content of their speeches.
“In terms of messaging, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are polar opposites on virtually every issue, both in position and priority – be it the economy, abortion, who is to blame for the situation at the US-Mexico border, etc.,” she tells El Comercio.
Below, we review Harris’s positions that will be key to her successful presidential campaign.
1. Migration
Harris assumed the vice presidency of the United States with the responsibility of finding solutions to the root causes that lead to massive immigration across the southern border, which has been overwhelmed in recent years. When visiting the border with Mexico in 2021, she emphasized that this issue “cannot be reduced to a political issue.” In March of this year, she pointed out that the country has a broken immigration system that the government must fix.
“The Biden-Harris administration has been very clear in its stance on immigration, which aims to balance compassion – recognizing that most people seeking to enter the U.S. do so out of survival needs – with compliance with U.S. laws and procedures. Vice President Harris is expected to maintain this,” Trajkov says.
Although at the beginning of her administration the vice president received widespread criticism, including from members of the Democratic Party, for her handling of the problem and for not visiting the border until several months after taking office, in recent months she announced commitments from private companies of 950 million dollars to support Central American communities as part of the Executive’s efforts to confront the migration crisis.
Trajkov notes that Biden proposed a remarkably conservative border and immigration bill, which was supported by Harris and which under normal circumstances would likely gain swift approval in any conservative Congress. “However, Republican lawmakers have openly admitted that they rejected President Biden’s bill at the behest of Donald Trump, who believed that leaving immigration and border issues unresolved would benefit his presidential campaign,” he notes.
2. Abortion
Harris has made abortion rights a top issue on her political agenda since before her name was even mentioned as a candidate to replace Biden. Earlier this year, she launched a “fight for reproductive freedoms” tour, one of her many statements and public events on the issue.
The vice president supports legislation protecting abortion rights nationwide and harshly criticized the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. The law had enshrined the constitutional right to abortion for decades.
His stance on the issue has been noticeably clearer than that of Biden, who, as an 81-year-old Catholic man, held a less forceful position on the issue.
For Trejkov, defending abortion rights will benefit Harris’s campaign, especially for those who argue that “denying women the right to abortion effectively relegates them to second-class status, with their bodies unconstitutionally regulated by the government.”
She adds that, interestingly, while Donald Trump has taken credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, he has recently softened his stance on anti-abortion rhetoric, suggesting instead that it be up to the states to decide.
“This stance, however, remains controversial for many voters who see it as another form of government control over women’s bodies. To further complicate matters – and potentially complicate Trump’s campaign – his vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, has expressed support for a national abortion ban,” the expert notes.
3. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza
The vice president has shown no signs of suspending her country’s support for Israel, its biggest ally in the Middle East. Harris agrees with President Biden on Israel’s right to self-defense, but stresses the manner in which it is carried out and has expressed concern about the tactics employed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Gaza Strip.
In March, he called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, describing the situation as a “humanitarian catastrophe.” He acknowledged that the Hamas threat must be eliminated, but also said that “too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”
“In stark contrast, Donald Trump has stated that he would turn a blind eye to Israel’s actions, suggesting that he would ‘let them finish the job,’ essentially giving Netanyahu carte blanche in Gaza. During a debate, he also disparagingly referred to Biden as a Palestinian, using it to imply that he was anti-American or a villain,” Trajkov notes.
Harris, who supports a two-state solution, is married to a Jew, Doug Emhoff, who is very active in the fight against anti-Semitism.
When it comes to Ukraine, the differences between Harris and Trump are just as pronounced. The Democrat recognizes the critical importance of a Ukrainian victory in curbing Vladimir Putin’s ambitions in Europe, which pose a threat to democracy and risk triggering a broader conflict on the European continent, as experts and U.S. allies in the region have already warned.
In contrast, Trejkov notes, Trump has suggested that the Ukrainian president negotiate with Putin, even suggesting that Zelensky cede Ukrainian territory to Russia. “This approach raises concerns that it would leave Putin unpunished and not deter him from further aggressive actions, potentially in other parts of Ukraine,” he notes.
4. The climate
Harris has made it clear that she is on the side of clean energy and environmental justice. During the current administration, she has supported Biden’s climate efforts, including legislation that provided hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits and rebates for renewable energy and electric vehicles, The New York Times reports.
The CBC recalls that when Biden announced Harris as his running mate in the 2020 campaign, he highlighted her tough stance against Big Oil when she held key positions in California. “As state attorney general, Harris won multimillion-dollar settlements with Big Oil Chevron and BP for alleged violations of pollution regulations on underground fuel storage tanks,” the outlet notes.
His position is substantially opposite to that of Trump, who has not only denied climate change and its effects, but also withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a controversial decision that was later reversed by Biden.
Sixty-five percent of Americans want the country to focus on increasing solar, wind and other renewable energy rather than fossil fuels, according to a May survey by the Pew Research Center.