Foreign: Will US Elect Harris As First Woman Black President?

Global Focus is centered on the United States, US, as the country is set to elect a new president, as two candidates, Donald J. Trump of the Republican Party, and Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party clash today for the top job.

While Trump is running with Senator JD Vance, Harris had picked Governor Tim WaLz as her running mate.

As the bastion of world democracy, keen watchers of US politics all over the world are watching, who among the two candidates would emerged the 47 president of the country.

Initially, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Was billed to run as an independent candidate, but later withdrew in August and endorsed Trump. But all along close watchers of the politics of the US had described the election as  a straight fight between Harris, who became the Democratic Nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, and Trump, a former president and businessman.

President Biden, the magazine recalls dropped out of the presidential race following serious pressure on him to do so because of his age. The US president is 81 years old, and not a few leaders of his party, including a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nanci Pelosi insisted that he stepped down because they thought this factor could work against him, particularly after he made some gaffes during a crucial debate with Trump in June.

Voting to elect the new president started few weeks ago, and is expected to climax on the Super Tuesday, the last day of the election, as candidates look up to the voters to decide their fates, in what political analysts have described as the most consequential election in the US democracy.

From all indications, the two candidates are standing neck-to-neck, as results from both Gallop and Exit polls have shown, but the major decider of the votes, according to knowledgeable analysts in today’s vote, are the eight swing states whose voters have yet to decide who to elect as the president.  The Swing states, according to US top media house CBS News are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. They are also called the Battleground States.

The eight Swing States alongside other 42 states will decide, today, the fate of Haris and Trump to become US President, and arguably the world most powerful leader.

Instructively, the winner of the election must win the highest Electoral College votes, unlike some countries where emerging president is the one with the highest popular votes.

In the US, a candidate could win the highest popular votes but still lose the election, as it happened in 2016 when Senator Hilary Clinton of the Democratic Party won the popular votes, but lost the election to Trump who secured the most Electoral College votes.

There are a total of 538 Electoral College votes, out of which the winning candidate must secure at least 270 votes to emerge president.

In case neither of the candidate secures the deciding electoral votes, may be, in a situation where both Trump and Harris secure 269 apiece, the president will be elected by the House of Representatives, which is currently dominated by the Republican majority, while the Senate, currently with Democrat Majority will chose the Vice president for the country.

Ahead the election, major issues that dominated the campaign  for the two candidates include Border security and immigration, women rights, crime amongst others.

While Trump promised to strengthen the US borders with other countries, to control the influx of criminals Harris’ position on the issue has been described as vague, raising serious questions on how she intends to prevent illegal influx of immigrants into the country.

Many illegal immigrants in the country are already gearing up to be deported as Trump has vowed throw them out of the country if he won.

But supporters of the former California Attorney General said Harris’ strong campaign issues include women rights to abortion, rule of law, amongst others which, analysts say have made her popular among women voters.

On these basis, she will be judge today by American voters on whether she is eligible enough to succeed President Biden whose term expires in January 2025.

The world is however watching whether Americans would elect Harris as her first black woman commander-in-chief.

For Trump who ruled the country between 2016 and 2020, millions of American voters will decide whether they want him to make America Great Again in line with his campaign mantra.