Harris (left) during a demonstration last Tuesday in North Carolina (French)
US Vice President Kamala Harris emerged from the shadow of President Joe Biden during the past few weeks in what seemed out of the ordinary to convince the voters who brought them to the White House in the previous elections, to give them their votes again for a second term.
These include hosting rapper Fat Joe at the White House to talk about reforming marijuana laws, visiting an abortion clinic, calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip at the historic Selma Bridge in Alabama, and walking through a crime scene symbolically stained with blood, after a school shooting. In Parkland, Florida.
Harris's new role comes at a time when progressive Democrats are targeting Biden because of his pro-Israel stance, and coincides with opinion polls showing that he is in a close race against his Republican rival, Donald Trump.
While left-leaning voters are skeptical of Biden because of his age and his management style, a problem that Trump does not face with his primary voters, Harris (59 years old) deals with sensitive topics more directly than Biden.
Miscarriage
Biden defended abortion rights, but focused on women whose lives are at risk, describing the issue as "very private and painful."
On the other hand, Harris went further, as she described abortion as an essential part of women's health care during a visit to the Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Organization in Minneapolis, which is believed to be the first time that someone in her position has visited an abortion clinic.
The war on Gaza
In Selma, Harris made the strongest statements at that point from any American official regarding the Israeli war on Gaza, saying, “Given the enormous amount of suffering there, there must be an immediate ceasefire.”
Some welcomed her use of the phrase “ceasefire,” a term that left-leaning Democrats were so eager to hear, but others demanded that it be matched by political changes as well. Harris urged Israel to make more efforts to alleviate what she called the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza.
American politics
There's no doubt that the vice president tried to take the Gaza conversation into a more sympathetic context, but "she has to... Biden is pushing more forcefully to change American policy.”
Current and former Harris aides denied the idea of any policy difference with Biden. They said her initiatives are a reflection of areas of interest dating back, in some cases, to her time as prosecutor.
President Joe Biden is one of our nation's greatest champions for affordable health care.
I am proud to be in the fight alongside him. pic.twitter.com/cWQNEWoSIY
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) March 27, 2024
A poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos - which also showed Biden and Trump tied at the national level - revealed that the majority of women and people under the age of 40 who are of Latin descent denounce Biden's performance as president. These groups chose Biden in 2020, which helped him defeat Trump.
Source: Reuters