Kamala Harris sharply attacks Donald Trump and is ahead of him in the polls

DER SPIEGEL Kamala Harris sharply attacks Donald Trump and is ahead of him in the polls 19 hours • 3 minutes reading time Kamala Harris is fully involved in the election campaign: In Wisconsin, she is working on Donald Trump, her tone is clear. Initial poll results should boost her campaign. Money has been pouring in since US Vice President Kamala Harris became the very likely presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. Donations are coming in at record levels, from small and large donors. Another resource, however, is and remains extremely scarce: time. The election is in 103 days. It is therefore not surprising that Harris has already gone fully into campaign mode. At her first appearance in her new role, she also sharply criticized her Republican rival Donald Trump. The right-wing populist is pursuing a backward-looking policy, Harris said on Tuesday to the cheers of her supporters at the event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and the rule of law, or in a country of chaos, fear and hate?" she added. She knows men like Trump, said Harris, repeating comments from Monday when she pointed out that she had "taken on perpetrators of all kinds" during her time as a prosecutor. She will "proudly put my record against his," Harris told the crowd in Milwaukee. One focus of her speech was the right to abortion. Harris accused Trump of wanting to ban abortion. "We trust women to make decisions about their own bodies and not let the government dictate what they should do," she said. After US President Joe Biden withdrew from the race for the White House, his deputy Harris is considered the favorite for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. There was great anticipation as to how the spectacular personnel change would affect the poll ratings. The first figures are now available. According to these, Harris has a narrow lead over Trump. In the Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Tuesday (local time), Harris received 44 percent, while Trump received 42 percent. The nationwide poll is one of the first since Biden's withdrawal. It was conducted on the two days following his announcement on Sunday. Another poll by PBS News/NPR/Marist, conducted on Monday and published on Tuesday, shows Trump slightly ahead of Harris among registered US voters with 46 percent, while Harris received 45 percent. Nine percent of respondents said they were undecided. Taking other candidates into account, Harris and Trump are tied at 42 percent each. Both the Reuters/Ipsos poll and the PBS News/NPR/Marist poll are within the margin of error. Majority welcomes Biden's decision According to the PBS News poll, 87 percent of US citizens believe Biden's decision to drop out of the race for the White House was the right one. According to the survey, 41 percent of respondents say that Biden's decision increases the Democrats' chances of winning the November election. On the other hand, 24 percent say the decision reduces the party's chances. For 34 percent, it makes no difference. Harris says she now has the support of enough delegates to be officially chosen as the Democratic candidate at the party convention in Chicago in August. According to her campaign team, she has already collected more than $100 million in donations since announcing her candidacy. Biden announced on Sunday that he would not run again in view of doubts about his mental and physical fitness and pledged his support to Harris. The 81-year-old had come under increasing criticism after a weak performance in a TV debate against Trump. The Republican Party convention took place in Milwaukee last week, at which Trump was officially chosen as the presidential candidate. In the 2020 presidential election, Biden won the contested swing state – Wisconsin is also considered one of the key states in the November election.