‘War hawk’ and hip-hop: In last dash, Harris and Trump rally for hold-out voters

Washington: Vice President Kamala Harris is making an aggressive push for the youth vote in the final days of her campaign, banking on first-time voters turning up for her in numbers that will far outweigh Donald Trump’s bid to court young apolitical men drawn by his machismo.

As the two candidates crisscrossed the midwest, Harris sharpened her pitch to young voters, campaigning with Grammy award-winning rapper Cardi B in Wisconsin and singling out Gen Z at a rally there and in Michigan by declaring: “I see you – and I see your power!”

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan.Credit: AP

“You know what I love about this generation?” Harris said in Wisconsin after asking for Gen Z voters to identify themselves in the crowd. “You are all are rightly impatient for change. You are determined to live free from gun violence, to take on the climate crisis. You guys are gonna shake the world you inherit!”

Trump, meanwhile, became the subject of an investigation by the Democratic attorney general of Arizona to see if he had violated state law when suggesting that former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney should be put on a battlefield with guns pointed at her face.

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let’s see how she feels about it,” he said during an interview in Arizona with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

“You know when the guns are trained on her face – you know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying, ‘Oh, gee, well, let’s send, let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy’.”

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris (left) hugs rapper Cardi B before speaking at a campaign rally in Milwaukee.Credit: AP

Campaigning in Dearborn, America’s first Arab-majority community, Trump later explained that he was simply assailing Cheney’s hawkish foreign policy. However, Harris hit out at her Republican rival, saying his comments were politically violent and ought to disqualify him from the presidency.

With only four days left in the campaign – and more than 70 million Americans having already voted – Trump and Harris are in a door-to-door fight to win what’s left of those who may not have made up their minds.

Harris’ strategy is to try to woo women and Republicans who are not sure about giving Trump a second term. But in recent days she has taken a page out of Joe Biden’s winning 2022 midterm election playbook by deliberately directing her campaign speeches towards young voters, who polls show are far more likely to vote for Democrats.

Trump has also made an effort to court Gen Z men, particularly white, black and Latino men without a college degree, by seeking out the podcasts and influencers they turn to, such as influential podcaster Joe Rogan and controversial YouTuber Jake Paul.

His pitch is focused on illegal immigrants, the economy and anti-trans messaging. His campaign has spent more than $US30 million ($45 million) on one ad in battleground states that declares: “Crazy liberal Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.”

The former president has also outsourced much of his ground game to third parties, such as conservative warrior Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point organisation, to activate low- to mid-propensity male voters.

However, polls suggest this may be a risky strategy. The Harvard Youth Poll, for instance, which provides the most comprehensive look at young Americans’ political opinions and voting trends, found that young voters strongly favour Harris in the 2024 presidential race.

According to the poll, Harris leads Trump by 20 points among registered voters under 30 (53 per cent to 33 per cent) and by nine points across seven key swing states among registered voters (50 per cent to 41 per cent).

What’s more, the gender gap among young people has grown from eight points since Biden was the candidate to 20 points, driven by Harris’ 30-point lead among women. Younger male Trump supporters are less likely to vote, the polls say.

Speaking at Harris’ rally in Wisconsin, rapper Cardi B identified herself as someone who was initially thinking of not taking part in this year’s election.

The 32-year-old was originally a supporter of progressive Senator Bernie Sanders, but campaigned for Biden in 2020. However, this year she became increasingly vocal about Democrats being selfish for letting Biden run again, in view of his age.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Little Chute, Wisconsin.Credit: AP

“I’m gonna be real with y’all. I wasn’t gonna vote this year,” she told the crowd. “I wasn’t – but Kamala Harris joined the race. She changed my mind completely.”

As this masthead travelled across the country in recent weeks, young voters had overwhelmingly different views about the two candidates.

In Georgia, for instance, junior college student C.J. Cowan voted for Harris due to her concerns about abortion rights and gun violence, and was hopeful of a new generational leader.

“We want to move forward,” she said. “We’re tired of these old white guys being in office.”

In Arizona, Carson Carter, president of the College Republicans at Arizona State University, said Harris was responsible for the crisis at the US-Mexico border.

“It’s fairly evident to a lot of people that it’s not going to change if she just gets a promotion and moves up one step to the chief executive role, because she’s been that voice of influence for the past three and a half years,” he said.

And in North Carolina, Alexander Denza, an organiser with the gun-control advocacy group March for Our Lives, said he couldn’t support either candidate and was likely to vote for a third party.

“I mean, Harris is getting endorsed by Reagan staffers,” he said, noting the backing she had received from numerous Republicans.

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