By Jeff Mason and James Oliphant
PHOENIX/ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) -Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris warned voters on Thursday that Republican Donald Trump and his allies would reduce healthcare applications if he wins the White Home and mentioned his feedback at a Wednesday rally have been offensive to girls.
In a short press convention, Vice President Harris reminded voters that former President Trump had tried unsuccessfully to repeal the Inexpensive Care Act, also referred to as Obamacare, throughout his 2017-2021 presidency.
“Healthcare for all Americans is on the line in this election,” she instructed reporters in Madison, Wisconsin, earlier than flying to Arizona and Nevada as each candidates took the marketing campaign to the Southwest.
In response, Trump mentioned he by no means wished to do away with this system. “I never mentioned doing that, never even thought about such a thing,” he posted on his Fact Social platform after she made the comment.
Opinion polls present a traditionally shut contest between Harris and Trump, with the end result of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election more likely to be determined in seven battleground states.
Reuters/Ipsos polling in October discovered the race to be sharply divided alongside gender traces, with Harris main amongst girls by 12 proportion factors and Trump main amongst males by seven proportion factors.
Greater than 63 million individuals have already voted by way of in-person early voting and mail-in ballots, based on the College of Florida’s Election Lab.
With each candidates campaigning within the Southwest on Thursday, they made their pitches to Hispanic voters.
Harris, who has been receiving a slew of movie star endorsements, acquired an A-list increase from pop star and film actress Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas, after Mexican rock band Mana performed a short set to introduce them and basketball nice LeBron James endorsed her earlier within the day.
“I like Hollywood endings. I like when the good guy, or in this case the good girl wins,” mentioned Lopez, born in New York to Puerto Rican mother and father.
Trump, whereas in Albuquerque, New Mexico, argued he might win over the state’s giant Latino inhabitants, even polling the group to see whether or not they most popular to be referred to as “Latinos” or “Hispanics.” The response “Hispanics” gained handily.
OBAMACARE AGAIN AT ISSUE
As soon as once more a marketing campaign concern, the 2010 Inexpensive Care Act gives protection to roughly 40 million Individuals as a part of the nation’s patchwork of medical health insurance applications. A political legal responsibility for Democrats when signed into regulation in 2010, it’s now broadly fashionable.
In his 2016 marketing campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to repeal Obamacare and following his election, when the Home voted to just do that, he welcomed Republican representatives to the White Home for a celebration. However the repeal effort died within the Senate in July 2017 when the late Sen. John McCain forged the deciding vote with a thumbs-down gesture.
Trump has downplayed the problem throughout this marketing campaign, although on Thursday he reiterated he would as president push insurers to cowl the price of in vitro fertilization (IVF) remedies.
When requested about healthcare within the Sept. 10 televised debate with Harris he repeated his competition that “Obamacare was lousy healthcare” however acknowledged he has but to suggest a complete different, saying he has “concepts of a plan.”
Harris has made abortion rights a cornerstone of her marketing campaign, whereas Trump has vowed to dramatically reduce immigration.
Democrats made a problem of Trump’s remark at a Wisconsin rally on Wednesday when he mentioned, “Whether the women like it or not, I’ve got to protect them. I’m going to protect them from migrants coming in.”
Harris instructed reporters she discovered the “like it or not” remark offensive.
“It actually is, I think, very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies,” she mentioned.
FOCUS ON SOUTHWEST
Trump made stops in New Mexico, a historically Democratic state, and the swing state of Nevada whereas Harris campaigned in Arizona and Nevada.
Trump predicted he would defy specialists who mentioned campaigning in New Mexico was futile.
“They all said ‘Don’t come. You can’t win New Mexico.’ I said, ‘Look, your votes are rigged. We can win New Mexico,'” Trump mentioned.
In Phoenix, the place Arizona Democratic senate candidate Ruben Gallego warmed up the group with remarks fluidly switching between English and Spanish, Harris criticized rhetoric from Trump that she referred to as “full of hate and division.”
“He insults Latinos, scapegoats immigrants,” Harris mentioned.
Hispanic voters have historically been an space of power for Democrats, however Trump has been gaining floor within the nationally and religiously various U.S. Latino inhabitants.
Nationally, Trump had the help of 38% of registered Hispanic voters in a collection of Reuters/Ipsos polls carried out this month, up from 32% on the similar level in 2020. Harris’ share of Hispanic voters was at 50%, in contrast with Democratic President Joe Biden’s 54% in October 2020.
