The US election could be one of the closest ever. Both Trump and Harris are scrambling to improve their weak spots
analysis
Donald Trump, whose position on abortion has repeatedly changed, said some states' laws were now too tough.
Welcome back to your weekly update on US politics, where North America bureau chief Jade Macmillan catches you up on the biggest developments in America as we hurtle towards election day in November.
It says something about the polarisation in American politics, and its media landscape, that Kamala Harris's appearance on Fox News this week made headlines before the interview had even begun.
The vice-president was certainly outside her comfort zone as she sat down with the Murdoch-owned conservative cable network for the first time.
Anchor Bret Baier spent more than a third of the interview pressing Harris on immigration policy, an area considered to be one of the Democrats' weakest with voters.
The pair also sparred over the availability of gender reassignment surgery in US prisons, and the mental acuity of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
The former president's campaign was quick to label the vice-president's performance a "train wreck", while Trump himself — who had previously accused Baier of not being "hard hitting" enough — declared the anchor to have been "tough but very fair".
But for Harris's team, the 26-minute interview was an opportunity to be heard by a large audience who otherwise might not be tuning into her campaign.
Kamala Harris is working to reach conservative-leaning voters who do not want another Trump presidency.
While Trump maintains a firm grip his party overall, Democrats are hopeful of winning over at least some Republicans who would prefer an alternative to the former president.
The type of voter, for example, who backed former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in her earlier fight against Trump for the Republican nomination.
And in a race that looks like it could be one of the closest in US history, every single vote matters – at least in the seven so-called swing states expected to decide the outcome.
Obama intervenes in an appeal to Black men
With that in mind, it's not just Americans from the opposite side of politics that Harris has been focused on this week.
Opinion polls suggest the vice-president will receive the backing of the overwhelming majority of Black voters, a demographic that has traditionally favoured Democrats.
But they also point to Trump gaining ground among Black men, a signal that has been taken so seriously that it prompted an intervention from Barack Obama.
"We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighbourhoods and communities as we saw when I was running," the former president said in a surprise appearance at a Pennsylvania campaign office.
"Part of it makes me think — and I'm speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president."
Barack Obama spoke to volunteers in Pittsburgh, but not all supporters welcomed his intervention.
Obama's tone rankled some in the party, with actor and Harris supporter Wendell Pierce describing it as an "awful message" that amounted to "scapegoating Black men".
Influential radio host Charlamagne Tha God, whose show attracts a large number of Black listeners, asked the vice-president when Democratic figures would start "finger waving" at white Trump supporters.
Harris later insisted she was not taking any votes for granted, and she unveiled a series of proposals aimed at Black men – including business loans for entrepreneurs and a policy of legalising recreational marijuana.
Trump responded by claiming Black Americans had had enough of Democrats.
"They'll be voting for TRUMP, AND NEVER GO BACK TO TREACHERY & DECEIT!" he said on Truth Social.
The 'father of IVF' makes his case to women
Trump is polling better with men across the board, while Harris performs more strongly with women.
The idea of a gender gap in US politics isn't new, with data suggesting women have leaned towards Democratic candidates for decades.
Abortion is a key campaign issue.
But it could be starker than ever this year, given Americans are once again considering the prospect of electing their first female president, and with abortion ranking among the issues of top concern for some voters.
Trump has taken an inconsistent position on reproductive rights in the years since he nominated three of the conservative Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v Wade.
But he used a Fox News town hall event with an all-female audience to claim that some of the strictest abortion laws around the country, passed in the wake of Roe's fall, were "too tough" and would be "re-done".
He also described himself as the "father of IVF", arguing he'd pressured Republicans in Alabama to introduce protections for the fertility treatment after a court in that state found a frozen embryo could be considered a child.
A Trump campaign spokesman later said the comment was "made in jest". Harris told reporters it was "bizarre".
An unexpected music fest and the 'enemy within'
The vice-president has pointed to several other Trump appearances this week to argue his behaviour has become increasingly erratic.
They included a campaign event in Pennsylvania that took a turn after several people in the crowd required medical attention.
"Would anyone else like to faint?" Trump joked. "Let's make this a musical fest."
What followed was a playlist ranging from Pavarotti's rendition of Ave Maria to November Rain by Guns N' Roses, all the while Trump swayed on stage, clapped his hands, and occasionally sang along.
"Hope he's okay," Harris tweeted alongside footage of the event.
Democrats also hit out at the former president after he argued what he called "the enemy within" was more dangerous to the US than its foreign adversaries.
"We have some sick people, radical left lunatics," he said in response to a line of questioning from Fox News about whether he was expecting "chaos" on election day.
"And it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen."
It wasn't the first time Trump had referred to the "enemy within", as highlighted in a video montage played by Harris at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.
"Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged," the vice-president said. "And he is out for unchecked power, that's what he's looking for."
One to watch: For many voters, election day is already here
For all of the money and energy being spent by the candidates in the final few weeks of the race, millions of Americans will have had their say well before election day.
In the closely fought state of Georgia, for example, more than 300,000 ballots were cast on the first day of early voting, more than doubling the state's previous record.
The shift towards early voting is a trend we've also seen reflected in past Australian elections.
But unlike in Australia, the US doesn't have the equivalent of the Australian Electoral Commission overseeing the election process across the country.
Instead, it's up to the states to set their own rules – including around how and when they count early ballots.
Officials in Pennsylvania are already warning it could be several days before results there are known, due to a state law preventing any mail-in ballots from being opened until election day.
Pennsylvania carries the highest number of electoral college votes of all the swing states, meaning it's possible it will end up deciding who takes the White House – just as it did in 2020.
And that means November 5 could be just the beginning of an incredibly tense election aftermath.
By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-18/trump-harris-week-in-us-politics-macmillan/104487946(责任编辑：admin)
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