Republican presidential candidate and former United States President Donald Trump said he believes Democrat and United States Vice President Kamala Harris will be less difficult to beat than United States President Joe Biden, even though some polls put her ahead in the race for the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Trump held a rally in Wilkes-Barre in northeastern Pennsylvania, a state looming over the campaign. Harris will tour western Pennsylvania by bus from Pittsburgh on Sunday, before the Democratic National Convention begins Monday in Chicago.
“I think she’s going to be better than him,” Trump said, calling her “radical” and “crazy. “
He has also continued to attack Harris on a non-public level, even though some political analysts say such comments may hurt Trump among moderate voters.
“Did you hear him laugh?” That’s a madman’s laugh,” Trump said, adding that he was not satisfied with Harris’ portrayal on the cover of the latest issue of Time magazine. “I’m much prettier than her. “
In a sinuous speech, Trump reiterated his false claim that he lost the 2020 election due to fraud, downplayed the risk of climate change and said his plan to impose widespread price lists on foreign goods would not act as a tax on American consumers. , a claim disputed by leading economists.
Pennsylvania is one of three Rust Belt states, along with Wisconsin and Michigan, that contributed to Trump’s wonderful victory in the 2016 election. Biden, who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, brought the trio back to the Democrats in 2020.
These three states are genuine bellwethers: the only American states that have voted for the ultimate winner of the presidential race in every cycle since 2008.
Kamala Harris guides Trump on more than two issues in Pennsylvania. Getty photo/images
With 19 electoral votes of the 270 needed to secure the White House, compared to Michigan’s 15 and Wisconsin’s 10, Pennsylvania may be the biggest prize in this year’s election.
A statistical style created by Nate Silver, an election forecaster, estimates that Pennsylvania is more than twice as likely as any other state to be the “tipping point,” the one whose electoral votes push Harris or Trump to the top.
Harris’ entry into the race after Biden ended his re-election bid last month has upended the contest, erasing the lead built through Trump in the final weeks of Biden’s fragile campaign. Harris leads Trump by more than two percentage points in Pennsylvania, according to poll tracking FiveThirtyEight.
Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 with about 44,000 votes, a margin of less than one percentage point, while Biden won with just over 80,000 votes in 2020, a margin of 1. 2%.
Both campaigns made the state a very sensible priority, flooding the airwaves with ads. Of the more than $110 million spent on advertising in seven battleground states since Biden left office in late July, about $42 million was spent in Pennsylvania, more than twice as much as any other state, the Wall Street Journal reported. , citing data from the tracking site. Advertising impact.
Democratic and Republican teams have already booked $114 million in advertising time in Pennsylvania from late August through the election, more than double the $55 million booked in Arizona, the second-highest total, according to AdImpact.
Harris’ campaign announced Saturday that it plans to spend at least $370 million on national television and virtual classified ads between Labor Day, Sept. 2, and Election Day.
Trump and Harris have visited Pennsylvania more than a dozen times each year this year. Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt at his rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
He said he would return to Butler in October and also announced he would deliver a speech on the economy at a campaign rally in York, Pennsylvania, on Monday. Trump’s running mate, US Senator J. D. Vance will also deliver a speech in Philadelphia. that day.
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will make several stops Sunday in Allegheny and Beaver counties to campaign.