Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Three weeks ago thereabouts, the campaigning is relentless, the swing states are the focal
00:09point.
00:10Kamala Harris is in three states this Monday, spreading her influence far and wide.
00:14Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin.
00:16Donald Trump, meanwhile, visits the storm-damaged North Carolina.
00:20Let's take a look back at their recent campaign stops.
00:23Kamala Harris has been trying to reverse a perceived reluctance among black men to vote
00:27for her.
00:28She made a key appearance at a black church in Georgia.
00:33While in Penn State, Donald Trump did a turn making french fries at a fast food chain which
00:38is known for employing a clown.
00:40We'll have a Monday update from our Washington correspondent after this report.
00:46He's serving up french fries, handshakes and unsubstantiated claims.
00:51Donald Trump donned an apron at McDonald's on Sunday in an apparent jab at his opponent
00:55Kamala Harris, who he says never actually worked at the franchise, despite her claims
01:00she did.
01:01I love McDonald's, I love jobs, I like to see good jobs, and I think it's inappropriate
01:08when somebody puts down all over the place that she worked at McDonald's.
01:12It was a big part of her resume that she worked at McDonald's, how tough a job it was.
01:16But his trip, while full of salt, was light on evidence and on policy.
01:22McDonald's workers make an average of $13-$15 per hour, but when asked whether he would
01:26raise the minimum wage, the Republican presidential candidate dodged the question.
01:32He saved most of his political rhetoric for later that day when he addressed a town hall
01:36in Pennsylvania.
01:38Trying to win over the pivotal state, he doubled down on his tough immigration policies and
01:42even wished Kamala Harris a happy birthday.
01:45No, no, happy birthday.
01:49Harris, meanwhile, was ringing in her 60th in a community church in Georgia as part of
01:54her Souls to the Polls push to appeal to more black voters.
02:00In this moment, our country is at a crossroads.
02:04And where we go from here is up to us, as Americans and as people of faith.
02:10And now we ask a question, we face this question, what kind of country do we want to live in?
02:16A country of chaos, fear and hate, or a country of freedom, compassion and justice?
02:21We're not going back.
02:25With just over two weeks until the election, the race is neck and neck.
02:29And both candidates know that it will likely be these battleground states that will decide
02:33the future of their country.
02:37That's the sound of Eliza Herbert hitting the nail on the head there.
02:39It is those swing states that will decide it.
02:42Let's bring in Fraser Jackson, our correspondent, who's followed every step of this campaign
02:47and doing a fine job indeed, Fraser.
02:49Great to see you.
02:50We're talking Harris.
02:51We're talking Trump.
02:52Let's start with the current vice president, Kamala Harris.
02:56We know she's been to that church service in Georgia 24 hours ago to try to reestablish
03:02herself as a candidate for black.
03:04It's mostly black men, isn't it, who are hesitating about voting for her.
03:07Tell us about her movements today.
03:10Yeah, well, I think it's safe to say that the Harris campaign is not really leaving
03:15any stone unturned here.
03:16They're effectively treating every segment of the population as though they're undecided
03:20voters.
03:21But a source inside the campaign tells me that what they're actually really focusing
03:24on is that 4% of undecided voters.
03:27So you're thinking maybe people who are maybe either unaffiliated or were potentially Nikki
03:33Haley voting Republicans back in the primaries.
03:36Of course, a lot of those people that voted, about the 25% that went for Nikki Haley, a
03:41lot of them will go home to the Republican Party.
03:43But the Democrats believe there is a significant enough chunk of the population which is so
03:47disillusioned with Donald Trump that they will vote the other way.
03:51And the way that they are doing that is by employing Republicans to send that message
03:55themselves.
03:56So Harris today is spending her time in the northern blue wall states, having been in
04:01Georgia over the weekend.
04:02And she's having a series of sit-downs with Liz Cheney, who is somebody who is not exactly
04:07a liberal and has been anti-abortion in the past, but now is one of the chief bell ringers
04:13for Kamala Harris.
04:14And the Harris campaign hopes that her words hold enough sway with that significant enough
04:20section of the electorate to move things in her direction.
04:24So they've already been in Pennsylvania.
04:25They're heading to Wisconsin and Michigan as well today.
04:30So a blue wall blitz as it's being called here in the United States for Kamala Harris
04:34as we get down towards the final two weeks of this election.
04:38She's also then going to head back to Pennsylvania later on in the week before heading to Georgia
04:44for a big ticket event with Barack Obama later in the week as well.
04:48So a busy week for Kamala Harris, but it really is those margins that she's working on.
04:53And celebrating a significant birthday too, so hoping for a birthday bounce in support,
04:57no doubt.
04:58How about her opponent, Donald Trump?
05:01We saw him at a certain fast food chain known, of course, for its employment of a clown on
05:07occasion.
05:08He had certain things to say about Kamala Harris's claims of having worked once upon
05:13a time for that very fast food chain.
05:17Trump on his way to North Carolina with no doubt more claims to be made, some of them
05:22factual, some of them less so.
05:26Yeah, three stops in North Carolina for Donald Trump, and he's already been hitting that
05:31note that he's been hitting for the last couple of weeks about Hurricane Helene and how the
05:35White House and the Biden administration and Kamala Harris, by extension, have not done
05:40anything to support people in that region.
05:43Of course, that is a claim that has been pushed back upon and denounced by even the Republican
05:46governors of those states.
05:48So you're thinking of places like Georgia and Florida.
05:53But of course, North Carolina has a Democratic governor in Roy Cooper.
05:57But they have been devastated by that hurricane, and there was concern on both sides, really,
06:03that the devastation left by that hurricane would make it harder for polling places to
06:08open and for people to get out the vote.
06:10But it seems that that hasn't really materialized.
06:12In all but a few of the polling places that were affected by that hurricane, polling has
06:17been able to get up and running.
06:19And we're seeing a good number of people in North Carolina already casting their votes
06:24as well.
06:25And Donald Trump, however, still trying to, again, carve out that electorate for himself.
06:29He managed to win North Carolina back in 2020.
06:34But there has been a bit of a change in the electorate there.
06:36There are more liberals in the electorate in North Carolina, especially around those
06:40big university towns of Raleigh, Durham and the like.
06:44That could be where those margins play in Kamala Harris' favor.
06:47So Donald Trump is hoping to show that his opponent hasn't done enough for the people
06:52of North Carolina.
06:53But that is something that the White House itself is pushing back on.
06:56Corrine Jean-Pierre at the press briefing today saying that Donald Trump's claims that
07:01the White House hasn't helped people are dangerous, and she says they are unhelpful.
07:05She finished by saying it is not what leadership looks like.
07:09So his comments have been pushed back upon not only by Kamala Harris, but also by the
07:13Biden administration as well.
07:15Very briefly, sir, fine margins could make the difference now, couldn't they?
07:19Because it is that tight.
07:21Yeah, most definitely.
07:24This really is a marginal election.
07:26And if you look at the national average polls, they've been, you know, moving closer and
07:30closer together.
07:31But anybody here will tell you that it's not the national poll that matters.
07:35It is the polling in those individual states.
07:37And we've gone from seeing Kamala Harris have a couple of points advantage in the blue wall
07:41states to effectively being a toss-up now.
07:43So I think, you know, there's a bit of panic on the Democratic side.
07:48The Republicans feel like they're gaining ground.
07:51That is kind of par for the course, it must be said, for most elections.
07:54But of course, everybody worried about whether the polls are accurate.
07:57There's a bit of a once-but-twice-shy situation happening with 2016 and even 2020, just to
08:03some effect.
08:04So people are still watching things intently.
08:08But the campaigns, for their part, saying that basically, ignore the polls, get out
08:12and vote.
08:13That's the only thing you can do.
08:14And that seems to be resonating.
08:16We've seen a record polling, record voting in places like Georgia already.
08:21So, you know, if that's anything to go by, then it could be a significant turnout this
08:26time around, even bigger than the turnout we saw in 2020.
08:31Fraser Jackson in Washington with his finger on the pulse politically for us.
08:35Thank you, sir.
08:36Very much indeed.
08:38All developments in the run-up to Voting Day, November the 5th.