Chethana Janith, Jadetimes Staff
C. Janith is a Jadetimes news reporter covering science and geopolitics.
The race for the White House is in its final weeks, with early voting underway in several states, including key battlegrounds like Arizona and Georgia. The two main candidates, Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice-president, and Donald Trump, the Republican former president, are traveling across the country, raising funds and energizing voters.
Polls across the country are being tracked to measure the state of the race. Since Kamala Harris took over the Democratic nomination from Joe Biden, her support has steadily grown, leading Trump by about three points nationally since August. However, the American election is decided by the Electoral College, not the popular vote. Predictions are being analyzed to determine if Harris’s lead will be enough to secure the presidency.
Despite a heated campaign, the polls have remained fairly stable. Trump, the first convicted felon to run for president, has survived two attempts on his life, at a Pennsylvania rally and his Florida golf course. Harris outperformed Trump in their only debate and holds a strong financial advantage. Still, she faces challenges, weighed down by the Biden administration’s legacy.
Both campaigns focus little on policy, partly by choice, but their stark personal differences are clear. Harris, a former prosecutor, contrasts sharply with Trump, who continues to face legal issues related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Jadetimes is monitoring the race, providing polling data, historical comparisons, and key dates, along with candidate profiles.
Key dates
Jul 15th, Republican National Convention
A four-day pageant, the Republicans formally selected their presidential and vice-presidential candidates in Milwaukee.
Aug 19th, Democratic National Convention
As at the Republican convention a month earlier, the Democrats formally nominated their presidential candidate in Chicago.
Sep 10th, second presidential debate
The two main candidates went head to head on ABC News a week after Labor Day (traditionally when Americans begin to pay attention to the election). They exchanged personal attacks and sparred over their visions for America, but Ms Harris forced Mr Trump on the defensive by bringing up the former president’s legal woes and stance on abortion.
Nov 5th, election day
Polls open on a Tuesday in early November, though early voting and mail-in ballot initiatives will mean many Americans will have already voted. Counting ballots will go on for weeks in some states.
Jan 6th 2025, results certification
Once all votes are counted, the results must be certified by Congress. Normally a pro-forma event, in 2021 Mr Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building to stop the certification. He is on trial for his alleged role in the attack.
Jan 20th 2025, inauguration
The new president will be sworn into office on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, DC.
The candidates
Kamala Harris (Vice-president)
At 60, Ms Harris is more than two decades younger than Joe Biden, whom she replaced as the Democratic nominee. Her mother was an endocrinologist born in India; her father is an economist born in Jamaica. In California she won elections as a prosecutor by leaning to the right on criminal-justice issues, while also appealing to Democrats, and was elected as the state’s attorney-general in 2010. Since she came to Washington, first as a senator in 2017, Ms Harris has been most effective at debates and hearings, where her skills as a litigator are on display.
She is a creature of institutional politics, not a visionary or an ideologue, and has struggled to define herself on a national stage. Her presidential run in 2020 crashed badly. As vice-president she is tied to the Biden administration’s record, which is unpopular despite the major legislation it passed to onshore chip manufacturing and invest in green energy. If she is to beat Mr Trump she will need to answer his attack lines on immigration directly and lay out a more ambitious domestic policy agenda than Mr Biden was able to communicate.
Donald Trump (Former president)
Mr Trump’s extraordinary campaign follows his no less remarkable term as America’s 45th president, which concluded shortly after his supporters staged a violent attack on the Capitol. His alleged role in instigating the attack and a broader effort to overturn results of the 2020 election resulted in two criminal indictments, in federal court and Georgia state court. A judge he appointed dismissed a further felony indictment against him, though prosecutors are appealing. The 78-year-old denies all wrongdoing. Mr Trump is a billionaire who made (and lost) much of his money in real estate, before he became a reality-TV star. This time his campaign pairs familiar culture-war issues (building a border wall, “left-wing gender insanity”) with fresh grievances (against the lawyers prosecuting his cases and the judges overseeing them).
On July 13th a gunman shot Mr Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, grazing the former president’s ear but otherwise leaving him unharmed (a bystander was killed). Afterwards Mr Trump briefly seemed a changed candidate, trying to present himself as a unifier in a speech at the Republican convention in Milwaukee. But he went back to his past ways quickly, throwing insults at his political opponents.
