Trump, Harris focus on ‘Blue Wall’ States in the final hours of the campaign

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump focus on battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania in tight election race.

As the race for the White House goes down to the wire, Democratic candidate and U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and her Republican opponent, former U.S. President Donald Trump, focused their weekend campaigns on three ‘Blue Wall’ States — Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Both candidates and their running mates are also campaigning in other battleground States, such as Georgia and North Carolina. Mr Trump is hoping to mop up new votes as he makes stops in New Mexico and Virginia. Votes here may not affect the Electoral College outcome but could increase Mr. Trump’s popular vote tally.

Recently, the popular vote (i.e., total votes cast across the U.S., abstracting from State tallies) has been won by the Democrats. New Mexico was won by U.S. President Joe Biden in 2020. Virginia has been carried by the Democratic presidential candidate since 2008; Mr. Biden had a 10.1% victory margin there in 2020.

Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump are making their case before union workers, among others across the Blue Wall. The two candidates camaigned within a few miles of each other in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Friday evening. The city is Democratic, with a large Black population, with conservatives concentrated in the suburbs. Mr. Trump had flipped this State in 2016, which Mr. Biden won by a wafer thin margin of 0.7% in 2020.

Also read: How does the U.S. electoral college system work? | Explained 

Both candidates campaigned in Pennsylvania over the weekend and they both will return to the crucial battleground State on Monday, where 19 electoral votes (of the 270 needed to win) are in play. Mr. Biden won the State in 2020 by just under 82,000 votes, but Mr. Trump had flipped it in 2016 when he ran against Hillary Clinton.

Democrats are caught in a tricky situation between the Jewish and Muslim communities over the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its conflict with Gaza (and now the larger West Asian region).  This is playing out clearly in Michigan, where, in the primary race, Mr. Biden had to reckon with a large majority of “uncommitted” votes in Arab-majority areas.