As the election day approaches, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are working hard to inspire enthusiasm among key voters, as their respective allies are concerned about potential voter loss.
On Tuesday, accompanied by three Hollywood stars, Harris walked into an art gallery in Detroit to engage in a dialogue on entrepreneurship with black male individuals.
Harris met with Don Cheadle, Delroy Lindo, and Detroit native Cornelius Smith Jr. at the Norwest Art Gallery. The art gallery boasted wooden floors, exposed pipes, small prints on easels, and large landscape photographs hanging on the walls.
Harris specifically mentioned Lindo, known for his roles in movies and CBS’s “The Good Fight.” She told the crowd, “Delroy has been a longtime supporter of mine,” adding that both she and him were part of the debate team at their alma mater, Howard University. She also reminded everyone that early voting in Michigan would begin in four days.
Meanwhile, Trump is focusing on wooing female voters, planning to record a town hall event program for Fox News Channel with an audience entirely made up of women, hosted by anchor Harris Faulkner.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, unveiled a campaign team initiative aimed at improving the quality of life for rural Americans.
These actions once again demonstrate that in a closely contested election, both sides are working hard to secure support from different voter groups while consolidating their strengths in traditional territories.
Harris is also set to attend a town hall-style event hosted by the morning radio show “The Breakfast Club” in Detroit. The show’s host, Charlamagne Tha God, is especially popular among black males.
The previous day, she announced a series of proposals called “The Opportunity Agenda for Black Men,” aimed at providing economic advantages for this demographic, including offering forgivable business loans of up to $20,000 for entrepreneurs and creating more internship opportunities. The plan also includes support for research on diseases more common among black men, such as sickle cell.
Last week, former President Barack Obama campaigned for Harris in Pittsburgh, focusing on black men and stating that he wanted to “speak some truth” to black male voters, criticizing those who “just don’t like the idea of a woman president.”
Walz’s campaign team expressed disbelief that a significant number of black men would shift support to Trump, especially considering their strong support for Joe Biden and his running mate Harris in 2020. They are more concerned that a considerable portion of black men may choose not to vote at all.
Georgia’s first elected black Senator, Raphael Warnock, issued a stern warning to other black men in Atlanta, saying that voting for Trump would be “truly dangerous” for them. At the time, the former president was heading to the same event.
Warnock believes that the Democrats’ job is to reach out to black men who are undecided about voting, stating that “the issue is people have to understand that if you do not vote, you are essentially casting a vote for Donald Trump.”
Harris’ campaign team is also placing particular emphasis on attracting male voters from other ethnic groups, creating the group “Hombres con Harris” to appeal to Hispanic men, using celebrities and major elected officials to represent her organization.
During her campaign in Michigan, Harris also faces other potential challenges, including anger from Arab activists over the Biden administration’s full support for Israel in the Gaza conflict. Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, is the largest city in the United States with a majority Arab population.
However, Walz’s campaign team expects strong support from college-educated white voters in Michigan on election day, with approval ratings potentially exceeding Biden’s support in 2020. She hopes to widen the gap in key suburban areas where Trump lost four years ago.
Trump plans to return to Detroit later this week to attend a rally.
The former president is expected to garner favor from rural voters, while Harris’ team hopes to at least match that support. Harris enjoys high support among female voters, and Trump’s goal is to prevent her from expanding her lead.
During his time in the White House, Trump saw a decline in support among female voters, especially in many key swing state suburbs. In September, an AP-NORC survey found that over half of registered female voters held a more favorable view towards Harris, while only about a third held a favorable view of Trump.
To reverse this trend, Trump is working to portray himself as someone who can personally protect women from various threats. Last month, at a rally in Pennsylvania, he pledged that American women “will no longer be abandoned, lonely, or afraid, you will not be in danger anymore.”
Trump promised, “You will be protected, and I will be your protector.” He also stated that if he wins, given that three Supreme Court justices he appointed in 2022 helped overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, women would no longer have to consider abortion.
In Chicago, Trump defended his support for high tariffs as an economic panacea in front of members of the Economic Club. Speaking to Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief John Micklethwait during the event, Trump said, “For me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff’.”
(This article references reporting by the Associated Press)