US election: Harris on the campaign final spurt on “Saturday Night Live”

In the final stretch of the US election campaign, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is looking for a really big audience – with a mini appearance on the high-rating comedy show “Saturday Night Live”. The 60-year-old proved that she can laugh at herself, but also made fun of her competitor Donald Trump.

Harris was almost a mirror image of actress Maya Rudolph, who repeatedly slips into the role of the Democrat in the show. “Am I really laughing like that?” Harris asked in the roughly minute-and-a-half-long sketch. The two then satirized typical campaign phrases and shouted “Believe in the promise of America” ​​at about the same time.

Trump also had to put up with ridicule: “You can do something your opponent can’t: you can open doors,” Harris said to her reflection. She was obviously referring to a scene from Trump’s election campaign: The 78-year-old appeared with a garbage truck in reference to a controversial statement by President Joe Biden – and reached past the door handle several times when getting into the driver’s cab.

Election campaign in the “swing states”

Both candidates had previously appeared in the competitive swing state of North Carolina – less than a hundred kilometers apart within a few hours. It is the fight for perhaps decisive, few tens of thousands of votes. Harris and Trump are vying for exactly the same voters in the final days before the election date on Tuesday (November 5th).

Harris clearly attacked Trump in her speech: He was “increasingly unstable,” obsessed with revenge and seeking uncontrolled power. Trump called Harris a “low IQ individual.”

North Carolina on the US east coast is one of the hotly contested “swing states”: In the 2020 election, Trump won by just over one percentage point ahead of future President Joe Biden. This year, polls in the state predict a very close race, with a razor-thin lead for Trump.

New poll sees Harris ahead in conservative Iowa

Overall, according to the surveys, Trump and Harris are close together. The election outcome in the so-called swing states is considered crucial, which is why the election campaign has been concentrated in the last few days.

But at the weekend a new poll caused a stir: Harris is ahead of Trump in the conservative state of Iowa. In the survey by the regional newspaper “Des Moines Register” in collaboration with Mediacom Iowa Poll and the polling institute Selzer & Company, 47 percent of the likely voters surveyed said they wanted to vote for Harris – 44 percent would vote for Trump. Harris’ lead is within the margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

Iowa is actually considered a Republican-voting state. Although one should not generally attach too much importance to individual surveys in the USA, they can certainly reflect a trend. The website FiveThirtyEight, which evaluates numerous surveys, still sees Trump clearly ahead of Harris. Another poll, also published at the weekend, sees Trump ten percentage points ahead of his competitor in Iowa.

In a speech in the state of Virginia, Trump denied US Vice President Harris’ ability to become president. “It will be completely overwhelmed, collapse, and millions of people will die,” he predicted if the Democrat wins the election. There are people who thrive under pressure – and those who then fall into depression.

Shortly before the election, Trump once again fueled the expectation among his supporters that a victory could only be taken away from him through fraud. “Let them cheat because that’s what they do,” Trump said of the Democrats. He is confident that he will not only win the majority of voters, but also the majority of votes overall.

After the 2020 election, Trump claimed that the victory was taken away from him by large-scale voter fraud by the Democrats. However, dozens of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign failed in the courts. There was never any evidence of irregularities that would have changed the outcome of the vote. But Trump continues to claim this. His comments also led to his supporters storming the Capitol in Washington, the seat of the US Congress, at the beginning of 2021.

Trump praises his “beautiful white skin”

Trump also specifically tried to woo women as voters. The 78-year-old said he was advised to stop calling women “beautiful.” “That’s why I won’t tell you how beautiful you are.”

The Republican candidate also spoke again of his “beautiful white skin.” “I wouldn’t have to be with you tonight,” he said. “I could be on a beach, my beautiful white skin would be nicely tanned.”

Harris wants to vote by mail

Harris emphasized that she wants to cut taxes for the middle class and ban price rip-offs by companies. It will ensure affordable healthcare. When she was interrupted by loud calls about the Gaza war, Harris emphasized: “This is what democracy looks like.” She wants to fight for people’s right to express their opinions. “But right now I’m speaking,” she shouted to the demonstrators.

The 60-year-old probably wants to vote by post herself. At least this is the US vice president’s plan, the US broadcaster CNN quoted a spokesman for Harris’ campaign team as saying. She wants to be a role model for other voters and show that there are different ways to vote. It remained unclear whether Harris had already submitted the ballot.

Her husband Doug Emhoff posted on X that he had already cast his vote by letter. Not surprisingly, he voted for his wife. “I voted for Kamala Harris for President of the United States. I will never forget this moment,” he wrote.

CNN: Around 70 million votes have already been cast

The US broadcaster CNN reported, citing its own surveys in collaboration with institutes, that around 70 million votes had been cast so far. The number corresponds to almost 45 percent of the approximately 158 million votes cast in the presidential election in 2020.