While political polls show Donald Trump and Kamala Harris neck and neck within the race to turn into the following US president, each campaigns are working feverishly to influence any undecided voters and get all of their supporters to vote.

And that features courting young voters, who’re notoriously difficult to win over. Whether their efforts repay in an election with razor-thin margins stays to be seen and might not be known on Election Day.

The Harris camp specifically has invested money and time to bolster the vice chairman's presence on popular social media platforms akin to Instagram and TikTok. A recent survey from the Institute of Politics on the Harvard Kennedy School shows Harris has a 31-point lead over Trump amongst 18- to 29-year-olds.

Since the previous Democratic senator from California entered the race this summer after President Joe Biden left office, her campaign has far outpaced the previous Republican president's spending on social media promoting.

Harris spent greater than $13.6 million on ads on Meta, Facebook and Instagram's parent company in a two-week period from Sept. 23 to Oct. 5, in accordance with nonpartisan political promoting analyst Wesleyan Media Project. Trump spent only a fraction of that through the same period – just over $2.1 million.

While it's unclear how much Harris has spent on promoting on TikTok, her campaign account @KamalaHQ has amassed 5 million followers and posted greater than 500 times since early July. Harris' personal account @kamalaharris has 6.5 million followers, in comparison with Trump's personal account @realdonaldtrump, which has greater than 12.5 million followers but has only posted about 40 times. Trump's campaign account @teamtrump has about 4 million followers on TikTok.

Chima Nwokolo, a senior political science student at San Jose State University, said that each the Harris and Trump campaigns have used Gen Z culture to motivate and have interaction young voters – Harris through memes and humor and Trump through the support of rappers and football players. including Kanye West and Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker.

“It really went from an election that pitted two typical old men against each other to a potentially historic opportunity for the United States to elect its first female leader,” Nwokolo said.

UC Berkeley junior Utkarsh Jain, a spokesman for the university's Republican student organization, said that while he believes the Democratic Party as a complete has done a greater job of seizing on trends and marketing himself on social media, Trump be the exception.

“Trump is a celebrity. He's been a celebrity all his life, so he knows how to play. He knows this world,” Jain said. He's “bringing in a lot of new people that we've never seen in the Republican Party.”

The Harris and Trump campaigns didn’t reply to requests for comment from this news organization.

The biggest change this yr in comparison with previous elections has been Harris' give attention to targeting multiple media platforms, including social media and popular podcasts, said Jan Leighley, a government professor and political scientist at American University in Washington, D.C. Harris accepted Alex Cooper's show, “Call Her Daddy,” recently in an attempt to succeed in Cooper's 5 million weekly listeners – most of whom are women under 35. Trump has also sought out podcasts, recently appearing on the country's most listened-to podcast, the “Joe Rogan Experience,” to appeal to the show's young male audience.

Harris' late begin to the race could have forced her campaign to prioritize social media to beat the drawback of a shortened campaign season, Leighley said.

“The branding, the amount of money spent through social media and the way it is used, I think its presence in non-traditional media channels is particularly appealing to the group of people it needs to attract are – I think that's a bigger focus than anything else.” “We've ever seen a candidate,” Leighley said.

For some Bay Area college students, Harris' approach has paid off, generating a level of engagement and enthusiasm among young voters.

Vivian Shepherd-Mayen, a 20-year-old student at Stanford University, was initially unenthusiastic when Harris became the Democratic nominee. She does not agree with her immigration policy and the Israel-Hamas war.

Then she came across the TikTok account @KamalaHQ. Now she is “possessed.”

She said that while it could “still hurt a bit of” to see Harris' name on her ballot, the report made her feel more connected to the vice president and made her campaign more “human.”

“I can’t imagine her campaign without the social media aspect,” Shepherd-Mayen said. “It's a bit like dry humor, which I think is much more Gen Z – the dry humor, the memes. It's really exciting to see. I’ve never seen that in a campaign because the people who participate are usually very old and don’t understand the memes.”

Stanford senior Isha Kalia said Harris' presence on TikTok made the election more accessible to younger voters who don't typically watch cable or news.

“With her campaign, she is actively trying to reach our age group and meet us where we are, rather than expecting us to meet them where they are,” Kalia said. “You just learn a lot more about their policies and their interests.”

But the strategy hasn't worked for all young voters.

Samantha Sternstein, a student at San Jose State University, said the Harris campaign's use of Instagram and TikTok to reach young voters can feel “inherently manipulative” because it taps into Gen Z culture to serve voters even though she votes for them.

“I am sure it is effective for people who are undecided and not sure whether they will vote. These are the people we actually need to elect,” Sternstein said. “But as someone who has made up their mind and knows that they’re voting (and who they’re voting for), I feel prefer it's not as effective for me.”

Despite efforts by both campaigns to get young voters to the polls, some Bay Area students still weren't sure who they would vote for in the final days of the campaign — and whether they planned to vote at all.

Sage Barden, a freshman at UC Berkeley, was one of those undecided voters.

“I’ve seen some of his (posts) on TikTok,” Barden said, referring to Trump, “but Kamala is definitely hiring young people who know how to appeal to Gen Z voters.”

Ultimately, government professor Leighley said it takes greater than a funny TikTok video to get young voters to the polls, and it's just as vital to make sure potential voters have the support and resources they need to really forged their ballot .

“Could it make young voters more likely to vote? I think that might be it,” she said. “It is a possible step in the right direction. But I think in the end it's not just about where we get information from or the type of information. Voting is a social and truly political act that we must be connected to.”

Originally published: November 4, 2024 at 6:02 am PST

Not surprisingly, technology regulation is a serious issue within the 2024 US presidential election campaign.

Over the last decade, advanced technologies, from social media algorithms to large artificial intelligence language models, have had a profound impact on society. These changes, which spanned the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations, led to calls for the federal government to manage the technologies and the powerful corporations that use them.

As a researcher in information systems and AII reviewed each candidates' technology regulatory filings. Here are the necessary differences.

Algorithmic damage

With artificial intelligence now widespread, governments world wide are grappling with the right way to do it regulate various points of the technology. The candidates offer different visions for US AI policy. One area where there’s major disparity is the detection and treatment of algorithmic harm attributable to the widespread use of AI technology.

AI is impacting your life in ways you may miss. Bias in algorithms used for lending and hiring decisions could end This reinforces a vicious cycle of discrimination. For example, a student who cannot take out loans for school would have less of a likelihood of getting the education they need free yourself from poverty.

At the AI ​​Safety Summit within the UK in November 2023, Harris spoke concerning the promise of AI, but in addition the hazards it brings algorithmic bias, deepfakes and wrongful arrests. Biden signed an executive order on AI on October 30, 2023, stating that recognized AI systems may pose unacceptable risks of harm to civil and human rights and individual well-being. In parallel, federal agencies reminiscent of the Federal Trade Commission have taken enforcement actions to guard against algorithmic harm.

In contrast, the Trump administration has made no public statement on mitigating algorithmic harm. Trump said it desires to repeal President Biden's AI regulation. However, in recent interviews, Trump has highlighted the hazards posed by technologies reminiscent of Deepfakes and security challenges of AI systems, suggesting a willingness to deal with the growing risks of AI.

Technological standards

The Trump administration signed this American AI Initiative Executive Order on February 11, 2019. The order committed to doubling investment in AI research and establishing the primary national AI research institutes. The order also included a AI technical standards plan and established guidelines for using AI by the federal government. Trump also signed an executive order on December 3, 2020. Promote using trustworthy AI within the federal government.

The Biden-Harris administration has tried to go further. Harris convened the heads of Google, Microsoft and other technology corporations on the White House on May 4, 2023 to accomplish that a series of voluntary commitments to guard individual rights. The Biden administration's executive order includes a very important initiative to check the vulnerability of very large, general-purpose AI models trained on massive amounts of information. The goal is to discover the risks hackers pose to those models, including those supporting OpenAI's popular ChatGPT and DALL-E.

Antitrust law

Antitrust enforcement – ​​restricting or conditioning mergers and acquisitions – is one other way the federal government can regulate the tech industry.

The Trump administration's antitrust dossier includes his try and block AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner. The merger was finally approved by a federal judge after the FTC filed a lawsuit under the Trump administration to dam the deal. The Trump administration Google also filed an antitrust lawsuit focused on its dominance in web searches.

Biden signed an executive order on July 9, 2021, to implement antitrust laws arising from the anti-competitive effects of dominant web platforms. The order also targeted acquisition of emerging competitors, data aggregation, unfair competition in attention markets and user surveillance. The Biden-Harris administration has filed antitrust lawsuits against it Apple and Google.

The Biden-Harris administration Merger guidelines in 2023 outlined rules to find out when mergers will be considered anticompetitive. While each administrations have filed antitrust lawsuits, the Biden administration's antitrust push appears to be stronger when it comes to its impact on a possible restructuring even stage a breakup from dominant corporations like Google.

Cryptocurrency

The candidates take different approaches to cryptocurrency regulation. Towards the tip of his term, Trump tweeted to support cryptocurrency regulation. Also late in Trump's term, the Federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network emerged proposed regulations To do that, financial corporations would have needed to record people's identities any cryptocurrency wallet a user has sent funds to. The regulations haven’t been issued.

Since then, Trump has modified his position on cryptocurrencies. He has criticized existing US laws and called for the United States to develop into a Bitcoin superpower. The Trump campaign is the primary presidential campaign Accept cryptocurrency payments.

The Biden-Harris administrationIn contrast, he established regulatory restrictions on cryptocurrencies with the Securities and Exchange Commission that led to this a spread of enforcement measures. The The White House vetoed it the Financial Innovation and Technology for the twenty first Century Act, which aimed to make clear accounting for cryptocurrencies, a bill preferred by the cryptocurrency industry.

Data protection

Biden's AI Implementing regulation Calls on Congress to pass data protection laws but provides no legal framework for doing so. The Trump White House's American AI initiative Implementing regulation only mentions data protection within the broadest sense and demands that AI technologies be protected.Civil Rights, Privacy and American Values.” The order didn’t mention how existing data protection could be enforced.

In the United States, several states have attempted to pass laws addressing privacy issues. There is currently a patchwork of nationwide initiatives and an absence of them comprehensive data protection laws on the federal level.

The lack of federal privacy protections is a stark reminder that while candidates address a number of the challenges posed by the event of AI and technology generally, there continues to be much work to be done to manage the technology in the general public interest.

Overall, the Biden administration's antitrust and technology regulation efforts appear largely focused on reining in tech corporations and protecting consumers. In addition, monopoly protection is being redesigned for the twenty first century. This appears to be the fundamental difference between the 2 governments.

Vice President Kamala Harris is in “excellent health” and “possesses the physical and mental resilience” required to function president. her doctor said in a letter A report summarizing her medical history and health status was released on Saturday.

Dr. Joshua Simmons, a U.S. Army colonel and physician to the vice chairman, wrote that Harris, 59, maintains a healthy, energetic lifestyle and that her last physical exam last April was “unremarkable.”

She “possesses the physical and mental resilience necessary to successfully carry out the duties of the presidency, including those as head of government, head of state and commander in chief,” he wrote in a two-page letter.

Harris' campaign hopes to make use of the moment to attract a contrast with Republican Donald Trump, who has released limited details about his health through the years, and lift questions on his fitness for office, in response to a campaign aide who spoke anonymously desired to stay to debate sensitive topics.

Trump has released little or no health information, including after his ear was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt in July.

Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, said Saturday that Trump voluntarily released updates from his personal doctor in addition to detailed reports from Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, who was Trump's White House doctor. Jackson treated Trump after the assassination.

“Everyone has concluded that he is in perfect and excellent health to become commander in chief,” Cheung said in an announcement. The campaign press office provided links to a few of Trump's previous medical reports. These included: https://tinyurl.com/yckc495b And https://tinyurl.com/4z27pk2f

Simmons, who said he has been Harris' primary doctor for 3 and a half years, said the vice chairman has suffered from allergies and urticaria, also called hives, previously, for which she has undergone allergen immunotherapy for the past three years.

Simmons said Harris' recent blood work and other test results were “unremarkable.”

According to the summary of an examination conducted six months ago, Harris' vital signs showed a blood pressure of 128 over 74, a heart rate of 78 beats per minute, a pulse oximetry of 100% on room air with a respiratory rate of 16 breaths per minute and a temperature of 98, 7 degrees. Pulse oximetry measures the oxygen levels in an individual's blood.

Simmons reported that Harris' head, eyes, ears, nose and throat were normal.

Also within the report: Harris wears contact lenses for mild myopia; there may be a family history of maternal colon cancer; She stays current on preventative care recommendations, including colonoscopy and annual mammograms.

Harris' mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was 70 when she died of colon cancer in February 2009.

The vice chairman “maintains a healthy, active lifestyle despite her busy schedule,” including “intense daily aerobic exercise and core strength training,” Simmons reported. She eats healthily, doesn’t devour tobacco products and drinks alcohol “only occasionally and in moderation,” he wrote.

When Harris' office released the medical report, her campaign highlighted recent media reports that raised questions on Trump's health and mental state, in addition to his failure to offer details about his health and medical history.

Trump, 78, eagerly questioned President Joe Biden's health because the 81-year-old president sought re-election. Since Biden was replaced on the ticket by Harris, Trump's own health has drawn more attention.

Last November, Trump celebrated Biden's birthday by issuing a letter from his doctor, who reported that the previous president was in “excellent” physical and mental condition.

The letter posted on Trump's social media platform didn’t contain any details to support its claims – measurements corresponding to weight, blood pressure and levels of cholesterol, or the outcomes of a test.

A self-driving automobile from Waymo interrupted Vice President Kamala Harris' motorcade in San Francisco on Friday evening as police responded to patrol and drove the vehicle away from the scene.

Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, was on the town Friday and stayed on the Fairmont Hotel before a campaign fundraiser on the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts on Saturday afternoon.

ABC7 first reported the news that the robotaxi didn’t make a U-turn on California Street, thus stopping the vice chairman's motorcade. San Francisco law enforcement officials who were in the world quickly responded and the issue was resolved, a department spokesman said Monday.

Waymo didn’t reply to emails looking for comment on Monday.

The incident isn't the primary time a Waymo driverless vehicle has caused an issue in San Francisco.

In February, a Waymo automobile hit a cyclist in Potrero Hill. The cyclist was taken to hospital with minor injuries. Waymo reportedly claimed that the collision occurred because the driving force darted out from behind a big truck and the Waymo automobile didn’t have time to react.

That same month, an indignant group of individuals set fire to a Waymo automobile in Chinatown in the course of Chinese New Year celebrations.

In August, dozens of parked driverless Waymo cars repeatedly woke up residents south of the market with constant honking within the early morning hours. The chorus of honking began when a driverless automobile backed up, letting off a honk after which one other.

After several weeks and complaints from neighbors, Waymo finally fixed a feature that was installed to forestall low-speed collisions by honking when other cars got too close to one another while reversing. Waymo apologized to residents, threw an ice cream party and gave them free Waymo rides.

Waymo isn't the one self-driving automobile maker that has had problems in San Francisco. Authorities Cruise's permission revoked after an incident during which a self-driving automobile dragged a lady 20 feet, seriously injuring her.

Starting in 2026, the California Department of Motor Vehicles could have more details about adjusting operating permits, based on repeated problems under a bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. FROM 1777, written by San Francisco Democratic Assemblymember Phil TingAuthorizes law enforcement to take motion if an autonomous vehicle violates vehicle regulations. Repeated citations would allow the DMV to switch or revoke a business's permits.

Originally published: September 30, 2024 at 2:11 p.m

Just because the uproar broke out over the summer over Donald Trump calling his potential rival.Fucking terrible” And “Cackling co-pilot Kamala Harris” was obviously beginning to wear off latest round of attacks The opinions of Trump and other Republicans became clear after their first US presidential debate.

The goal was – once more – to make Kamala Harris laugh.

Three days after the controversy, for instance Bruce Zuchowskian Ohio sheriff, posted on his Facebook account that Harris was a “laughing hyena.” Zuchowski was subsequently prohibited from providing election security during in-person voting.

Conservative media commentators also expressed their displeasure, calling Harris' laugh “contemptuous“”exaggerated” And “inappropriate.”

This isn't surprising, considering Harris' laugh was clearly on display throughout much of the nationally televised debate — and, worse, Trump was clearly the article of her relentless mockery.

Lots has already been written about it Sexism and racism behind Trump's disdain for Harris' laugh.

But in a single little known, essay from 1985 called “An extravaganza of laughter“, celebrated American author Ralph Ellison provided a pointy evaluation of the subversive power of black laughter in Thirties America.

Ellison's essay, published within the 1986 collection “Going to the Territory,” still provides useful historical racial context to clarify Trump's hostility toward Harris. Among the stories Ellison tells is that this: Black people once needed to stick their heads in a barrel to laugh because their laughter unsettled white Southerners.

The dangers of black laughter

He is best known for his 1952 novel “Invisible man“Ellison was one in every of America's foremost social critics, tackling racism and white supremacy by telling stories of the alienation of on a regular basis Black people trying to find identity in a nation that viewed them as inferior.

In “An Extravagance of Laughter,” Ellison began with an anecdote about attending a theatrical adaptation of Erskine Caldwell's novel “Tobacco Street” in New York City in 1936. The popular play detailed the lives of destitute white sharecroppers through the Great Depression. Among other things, sharecroppers feared that they might lose their social status in the event that they fell below the lower rung reserved for blacks in America.

While laughing uncontrollably In a comical scene within the play, concerning the antics of poor white Georgia farmers, Ellison realized the stir he was causing amongst a predominantly white audience.

For many white Americans, black laughter was “a special type of insanity suffered exclusively by Negroes who, given their social status and former situation of servitude, were assumed to have had absolutely nothing of their day by day experience that would possibly encourage rational laughter “Ellison explains.

From Ellison's perspective, his laughter through the play was interpreted as confirmation of the black buffoon stereotype.

As he described it, the white spectators “caught fire and began to howl and cheer at the shameful loss of control exhibited by a black man.”

Later within the essay, Ellison mocks the usage of “laughter barrels” in Southern cities, which he described as “huge whitewashed barrels marked FOR COLORED” and into which any Negro who felt amusing was forced to stay his loud head inside . ”

The intent to suppress black laughter was pro bono publico, or for the common good, Ellison explained.

Stories about using barrels for blocking insulting black laughter were from the general public well studied by scientists they usually are believed to be the origin of the expression “Barrel full of snickers.”

While the thought of ​​barrels could appear completely ridiculous, Ellison understood it as an absurd technique to curb a not-so-absurd fear in post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow white America, when segregation was legal.

Black individuals who laugh “have turned the world upside down and upside down,” he explained.

And in doing so, Ellison wrote, “black laughter inverted (and undermined) tradition, and so the preordained and cherished pattern of race relations in the South was torn apart.”

In a 1983 letter to mark Caldwell's birthday, Ellison wrote thanked the creator – “By artistically sanctioning a source of comedy that I had to deny for self-protective reasons, you freed me from three tumultuous years of self-restraint.”

Flip the script on who gets to laugh

The first time Trump became the topic of black laughter was through the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2011, at which he made a public and public appearance roasted mercilessly from a glad Barack Obama. The experience appeared to humiliate and infuriate Trump, and is widely seen as doing so by political pundits Trigger for Trump's entry into the 2016 presidential election.

It is due to this fact not surprising that his election campaign is resurgent Rhetoric that many consider racist to undermine public confidence in Harris' suitability for office.

During the Trump debate accused multiple times Harris accuses him of “destroying the fabric of our country” together with his “crazy” policies. Trump had previously “silly as a stone“ and “a radical leftist lunatic.”

These are a reminder of the long and shameful history of racist characterization of black Americans as a threat to society. These include depictions of unruly, newly emancipated black men holding public office in DW Griffith's film “1915.”The Birth of a Nation“ about Trump’s public call for the death penalty for the so-called black and Hispanic teenagers Central Park Five in a full-page New York Times ad in 1989.

In this case, the teenagers were falsely accused of brutally attacking a white New York jogger. They spent years in prison before being exonerated by DNA and the confession of a convicted rapist and murderer.

America's New Race and Gender Norms

Trump's mockery of Harris' laugh has not neutralized her popularity.

Harris is widely regarded hailed by political commentators because the winner of the controversy, and the lasting impression is of a scowling Trump who continually fails to place an end to Harris' cheerful expressions of incredulity.

Nearly a century has passed since Ellison's disturbing laugh took place in a New York theater in 1936. During this time, each Obama and Harris have reordered traditional gender and racial norms by deploying black laughter within the very public theater of US presidential politics.

At the tip of July 2024, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris released a campaign ad across the US-Mexico border that was something out of the Republican playbook.

In the ad, Harris announced that as president she would deploy more border patrol agents, stop human traffickers and prosecute transnational gangs – precisely the things that Republican candidate Donald Trump has promised to do if elected.

Harris' shift to the correct is seen by her campaign strategists as a superb political move and reflects the increasingly anti-immigration attitude of the US population lately. According to a Gallup poll from July 202455% of Americans desired to tighten immigration restrictions, marking the primary time in nearly twenty years that a majority of Americans supported such restrictions.

These anti-immigration attitudes are partly as a result of exaggerated claims by conservative politicians and right-wing experts that the management of the US-Mexico border is a disaster and that the federal government is endangering public safety by allowing violent criminals to enter the US

Worse still, in the course of the Presidential debate On September 10, 2024, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump falsely accused Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, Dogs and cats eat.

As someone who has worked hard Given the big variety of asylum seekers on the border since 2019, I see clear differences between Harris and Trump on the immigration issue.

During his term, Trump implemented a restrictive immigration policy on the border that effectively eliminated the correct to asylum. He was also behind the controversial child separation policy in 2018 and attempted to Deferred measures for arriving childrenor DACA, the Obama-era federal program that forestalls the deportation of tons of of hundreds of illegal immigrants who got here to the United States as children.

Although Harris has not been as successful as Trump on immigration, as a senator and vp of the United States she has shown a willingness to embrace more restrictive border policies, but continues to support a path to citizenship for “Dreamers” and illegal immigrants married to U.S. residents.

Trump’s extremist rhetoric and policies

With border security becoming his essential issue, Trump could much more draconian measures than in his first term, including further restrict the asylum system And deportation as much as 20 million undocumented immigrants.

Perhaps Trump’s most controversial measure during his first term was his child separation policy in 2018, which resulted in over 5,000 children are kidnapped from their parents after they were arrested on the border. This motion led to nationwide protests and international condemnationFrom May 2024 about 1,400 children remained separated from their families.

Undeterred, Trump pursued further restrictive measures.

Trump signed an executive order in 2019 and launched the Migrant Protection Protocols, higher often known as Stay in Mexico Policy. This order required asylum seekers arriving on the U.S. border to be sent back to Mexico while their applications were processed. This program remained in effect until the tip of Trump's presidency in 2020 and led to 81,000 deportations.

Trump also used Restrictions under Title 42 in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, to expel migrants without visas quickly and without exceptions with a purpose to contain the pandemic. In the primary seven months 200,000 migrants were deported.

In particular, the usage of violent rhetoric against migrants increased dramatically during Trump's rise to the leadership of the Republican Party. During his first term, Trump and his officials discussed shootings Migrants crossing the border within the legTexas Governor Greg Abbott, considered one of his key allies, said the rationale officials there Don’t shoot migrants is because they might be charged fees by the federal government.

Trump also promised he could be willing to make use of the US military in Mexico to fight drug cartels.

Harris' balancing act

As a US Senator in 2019, Harris was voted against a constitutional amendment against sanctuary cities that may have allowed local police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and potentially deport immigrants living within the United States illegally.

She was also the first sponsor of the laws This would limit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's actions against those caring for unaccompanied minors. However, as Attorney General of California, Harris supported the handover of minors living illegally within the United States to immigration authorities, which crimes committed.

As vp, Harris appears to support a more restrictive approach just like that of Biden on June 4, 2024. Implementing Regulation The law limited the variety of asylum seekers who were allowed to cross the border.

It also supports the CBP One App System which was created by the Biden administration in early 2023.

Under this procedure, asylum seekers are given the chance to satisfy an immigration officer, but often should wait for months under dangerous conditions in Mexico.

Harris has also repeatedly spoken out in regards to the need for support DACAThe Biden administration expanded medical health insurance in 2024 for DACA recipients, which provides them Access to insurance through the Affordable Healthcare Acthigher often known as Obamacare.

If elected, Harris would likely extend one other of Biden's terms into 2024. Implementing regulations This created a legal path to citizenship for immigrants who shouldn’t have legal residency within the United States but are married to U.S. residents.

In stark contrast has already criticized politics and said he would put an end to the practice if elected.

The Biden-Harris administration also has a mixed record on the subject of borders and deportations. It has deported almost as many immigrants living within the US without legal permission as Trump.

By June 2024, the variety of deportations because the start of the Biden administration in January 2021 had already reached 4.4 millionAt the identical time, these higher numbers reflect the proven fact that more persons are coming to the border as a result of the increased opportunities for entry.

In the primary three years of Biden's presidency, greater than 1 million migrants were allowed to enter the country on the border. temporary parole for humanitarian reasonsthat enables them to remain within the United States while they await their asylum hearing.

The reality of immigration

Republicans overwhelmingly portrayed immigration as a transparent and present threat, while Democrats portrayed it as an act of compassion.

However, in an increasingly anti-immigrant environment, one rarely hears that increased immigration under the Biden-Harris administration was a significant component in US economic growth.

In fact, many economists have also argued that working-class immigrants from across the border have contributed Reduce inflationI’m convinced that the United States needs more, not fewer, migrants, and that a tough line stance and policy is damaging to our society and economy.

While Trump's tough stance on immigrants each on the border and domestically is well-known, Harris' record stands out for a more balanced approach that gives support to at the least some immigrants and asylum seekers living within the U.S. illegally.

Donald Trump tried to pretend he didn't care that Taylor Swift once more broke the web on Tuesday night along with her declaration of support for Kamala Harris, just minutes after he and his fellow Democratic presidential candidate left the talk stage in Philadelphia.

Trump, who appeared unsettled for much of Harris' energetic and combative debate performance, called Fox News' “Fox and Friends” Wednesday morning, referring to last weekend's mini-controversy over Swift's friendship with Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who the Republican candidate claimed is “a huge Trump fan.”

“If you want to know the truth, I actually like Ms. Mahomes a lot better,” the previous president said, warning that the “liberal” Swift would “pay a price in the marketplace.” But as much as Trump tried to dismiss Swift's Instagram support for Harris, which earned him greater than 1 million likes inside 13 minutes of its publication, the pop megastar's move infuriated his followers while his celebrity allies despaired that he had lost the talk.

Right-wing commentator Megyn Kelly grumbled Swift, one of the crucial famous icons of American popular culture with an enormous global fan base, “decided it would be fun to take down Donald Trump when she thought he was in a bad way.”

It stays to be seen, nevertheless, whether Kelly and Swift's legion of fans will place an excessive amount of importance on the pop star's support. Once again, a presidential election raises the query of whether an A-list celebrity's endorsement can assist their preferred candidate win.

On the one hand, Swift's support “provides Harris with an unprecedented celebrity supporter and a huge adrenaline boost for her campaign, especially among the younger voters she wants to appeal to.” the New York Times reportedSwift's broad cultural appeal was evident last yr in how she became a driving force within the NFL's growing popularity amongst young women due to her relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Others, nevertheless, argue that celebrity endorsements “have limited influence on racial choice.” Critic, essayist, and self-proclaimed Swiftie BD McClay expressed skepticism. in a recent New York Times editorialthat stars “have a persuasive power that some Americans apparently wish they had.”

Nevertheless, Swift obviously hoped to do some convincing on Tuesday evening. write to her 283 Instagram Follower: “I will be voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential election. I'm voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes that I believe need a fighter to represent them.”

Swift captioned her post, “Childless Cat Lady,” a transparent reference to Trump's running mate JD Vance and his infamous comments demeaning women, cat owners, and childless couples. Swift accompanied her support with a photograph of herself with considered one of her cats, Benjamin Button, her ragdoll.

The news of Swift’s support delighted Walz in real timewho learned about it during an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow after the talk.

“I don't think you know about this, but this was just posted online by a woman you may have heard of. Her name is Taylor Swift,” Maddow told the Minnesota governor.

“I am incredibly grateful to Taylor,” said Walz, deeply touched. “I also say that as a cat owner,” he said humorously.

Swift's post ended weeks of speculation about whether she would support Harris' bid to turn into the primary woman elected president of the United States. That speculation began almost immediately after President Biden announced on July 21 that he was abandoning his re-election bid. The next day, Yale historian Timothy Snyder wrote speculates about X about the opportunity of Swift endorsing the previous San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General. The headlines “Will Taylor Swift Endorse Kamala Harris?” began to pile up.

Vanity Fair author Kase Wickman called Swift on the time “the most influential figure of all time, able to use her enormous popularity and power so effectively to influence business and legislation, film production practices and album release strategies.” Wickman also pointed to Forbes' rating of Swift because the fifth strongest woman on this planet, arguing that this support for the previous California senator could be an “incomparable advantage” for her presidential candidacy.

During the primary a part of her profession, which spanned country and pop music, Swift was reluctant to talk out politically. But that modified in 2018, when she endorsed Democratic candidates in her home state of Tennessee. In an interview with Vogue in 2019Swift expressed regret for not endorsing Hillary Clinton in 2016, but feared that her support could backfire and that Trump would attempt to “weaponize the idea of ​​celebrity endorsements.”

Swift didn't miss the chance to endorse candidates in 2020 and “proudly” supported the Biden-Harris ticket. She said having the 2 within the White House would help heal the country after Trump stoked “the fires of white supremacy and racism” during his “entire” presidency from 2017 to 2021.

McClay, Swiftie's essayist, identified that Swift's candidates lost the 2018 Tennessee election, while others noted that the endorsement of one other popular culture icon, Beyoncé, didn’t help Clinton in 2016.

On the opposite hand, Biden and Harris won in 2020, even though it's hard to say whether Swift had anything to do with it. On the opposite hand, McClay and other political observers have said Swift wields political power in encouraging young people to register to vote. Such influence could prove consequential in close races in swing states. Last yr NBC also conducted a survey It reported that Swift continues to cross the deep ideological divide in America and that just about 80% of registered voters have a positive or neutral opinion of her.

“Swifities” were trending on X Wednesday, with the Swifties for Kamala accountwhich isn’t affiliated with the singer, expressed their delight on the icon's support, saying they never doubted it might come “at the right time.” They also predicted that the singer's “words will have a positive impact and encourage more people to join our mission to elect Vice President Harris.”

Harris, for her part, has enjoyed her popular culture connections with Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion and other stars, and her campaign team showed its joy at Swift's endorsement in a notable way Tuesday night, playing the singer's feminist anthem “The Man” as Harris left her debate watch party. People have reported.

“Hard work is good work and we're gonna win, we're gonna win,” Harris told the gang, giving them high fives because the chorus of Swift's song began to play with the lyrics, “I'm so sick of running as fast as I can / I wonder if I'd get there faster if I was a man.”

Only a number of days later President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential campaign in July, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke before Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Annual Meeting in Indianapoliswhere she emphasized the importance of each religious faith and political freedom.

Harris contrasted Her stance on abortion rights echoed that of former President Donald Trump, saying: “Across our country, we are witnessing a full-scale attack on hard-won and hard-fought freedoms and rights,” Harris said. “And in the face of these attacks, we must continue to stand together and defend freedom.”

By making “freedom” the theme of her campaign, Harris appealed to a key element of black identity and spirituality that’s rooted within the historic liberation struggle of former slaves. This legacy partly drives a divide between the attitudes of black and white Christians, particularly on issues reminiscent of abortion and support for Trump.

As political scientists and spiritual scholars, we view Harris's remarks as a subtle reminder to voters that black religious life within the United States has long appealed to people of all faiths. to make use of their beliefs to advance social justice.

Her message stands in sharp contrast to Trump's conservative allies who support restricting personal freedoms regarding abortion.

Racial segregation

To higher understand the connection between race, religion, and support for Trump, we conducted a nationwide online survey in June 2024, supported by the Public Religious Research Institutea non-profit organization that conducts opinion polls on various topics.

To compare the views of white and black Christians, our sample of nearly 1,500 adults included over 700 participants from each ethnic group. We asked half of the sample to point their level of agreement with five statements commonly used to measure Christian nationalist beliefs.

These points include support for religiously based laws and the idea that the United States was designed to be a Christian nation.

We then categorized participants in accordance with whether or not they agreed with most statements (“supporters” and “sympathizers”) or disagreed (“skeptics” and “decliners”). Over a 3rd of each black and white Christians agreed with most Christian nationalist ideas.

However, we found that black Christian nationalists are far less prone to support Trump than their white counterparts. In addition, they don’t support far-right policies reminiscent of those in Project 2025the Heritage Foundation's plan to implement a conservative agenda throughout the federal government.

The two groups also differ considerably of their assessment of Trump. Only 17 percent of black Christian nationalists expressed a positive opinion of the previous president, in comparison with 49 percent of white Christian nationalists.

The chosen one?

These racial differences are much more pronounced after we examine the attitudes of charismatics – a bunch of believing Christians who within the late twentieth century began to emphasise Pentecostal practices reminiscent of divine healing And speak in tonguesa language of incomprehensible sounds that was believed to be a direct communication with God.

All of our survey respondents—760 white Americans and 734 black Americans—were asked whether or not they had personally experienced or witnessed practices of charismatic Christianity, including receiving what they believed to be a direct revelation from God.

While only 23 percent of white Americans were classified as charismatic within the study, this number doubled to 51 percent amongst black Americans.

Although outstanding white Christian nationalists often describe Trump as “the chosen one“ we found that only 15% of black charismatics expressed a positive opinion of him, in comparison with 52% of white charismatics.

The ongoing struggle for freedom

The Black radical traditionhelps explain why black charismatics have a lot in common with their white counterparts—even an endorsement of Christian nationalism—but differ on the difficulty of Trump and abortion.

In its current form, the tradition of black radicalism is an ideological framework that calls on its adherents to actively fight against policies that threaten racial equality and bodily autonomy. Abortion rights fit squarely into this political tradition.

According to a 2014 study Study of the religious landscape A study by the Pew Research Center found that the vast majority of black Christians say that abortion must be legalThese Christians include denominations reminiscent of Baptists, Presbyterians and Pentecostals who usually are not members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Over the years, this majority support for abortion has remained stable amongst black Christians and reflects similar support amongst black voters overall. 2024 Pew Research Center In one poll, for instance, 73% of black voters said abortion must be legal.

During her speech to members of Zeta Phi Beta fraternity, Harris said she understood how difficult it was to reconcile one's faith with political opposition. But as she explained:

We imagine in reproductive freedom and can fight for ladies's right to decide on, since you don't have to present up your faith or your deeply held beliefs to agree that the federal government shouldn't inform you what to do.

After Harris accepted Biden's endorsement, her longtime pastor, Rev. Amos Brown, prayed that Harris would lead her campaign “in the spirit of our ancestors.”

This ancestral spirit includes the tradition of radical black political resistance – and the continuing struggle for freedom.