Kamala Harris opens her election campaign leading in the polls by a slim margin
Two days after President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, Kamala Harris has officially kicked off her election campaign with a rally in Wisconsin in which she promised to protect the middle class and the rule of law.
Visibly moved, Harris thanked the public for their support, as well as that of President Biden, whose political legacy she highlighted. On the other hand, as expected, she also made references to her rival, Republican Donald Trump, whom she branded an "aggressor" and a "predator".
Harris also described the former president's policies as outdated and retrograde, assuring that the party would not go "backwards". "Our fight is for the future," said the Democratic candidate who, after Biden's withdrawal, has faced numerous racist and sexist insults on social media from Trump supporters.
The vice-president has stressed the importance of the November elections for the future of the United States, defining them as a choice between "freedom and chaos".
Harris's campaign kick-off coincides with the release of a Reuters/Ipsos poll showing a slight lead for the Vice President over Trump.
The poll followed both the Republican National Convention where Trump formally accepted his party's nomination and Biden's decision to drop out of the presidential race.
Harris, who is very likely to officially become the Democratic Party's nominee, was ahead of Trump with 44% to 42% in the national poll, a difference within the margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Harris and Trump were tied at 44% in a July 15-16 poll, while the tycoon led by one percentage point in a July 1-2 poll, both within the same margin of error.
The poll also showed that 56% of registered voters agreed with the claim that Harris, 59, was "mentally capable of meeting challenges", compared to 49% who said the same of Trump, 78. Only 22% of voters rated Biden that way.
Separately, shortly before Harris' campaign kickoff, Trump filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission arguing that money raised for President Biden's re-election campaign cannot be transferred to the vice president's presidential campaign.
"Kamala Harris is attempting to perpetrate a 91.5 million dollars theft of leftover money from Joe Biden's campaign, a brazen theft of money that would constitute the largest excessive contribution and the largest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended," the complaint states, as reported by CNN.
Just 24 hours after Biden's withdrawal, Harris's team managed to raise more than 81 million dollars, breaking a record for this campaign. In fact, according to her team, this was the largest amount raised in a single day in US history.
