
The general presidential election in the United States is less than four calendar months away. Political circumstances have the potential to change overnight, and a week is truly a long time in politics. The month of July has already demonstrated that well. Between an attempted assassination and the president stepping down, this month alone is going to be one for the history books.
Serious political pressure mounted on Biden after he performed disastrously on the debate stage. Following the showing, Democrats began to call for the president to step aside and for a new nominee to be chosen. Biden adamantly attempted to remain in the race but gave in to the rising calls for his exit on July 21st, dropping out of the race in an unexpected statement issued to social media platform “X,” formerly known as Twitter. Biden pivoted and quickly endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, as his replacement – and since then, she has received
Kamala Harris has polled better than Biden in some recent polls. In an article by PBS, a poll found that Harris and Trump were tied in a national contest. 87% of Americans agreed that Biden made the “right” decision dropping out of the presidential race. 41% of Democrats felt this gave Democrats a stronger chance of winning in November. Harris already appears to be reversing some of the downward poll trends that Biden endured over the last month; in Virginia, Trump and Biden had been tied, but Harris now holds a 5-point lead in recent reports.
Eugene Roy, a retired law enforcement officer from Chicago reminded potential voters of some controversial comments Kamala Harris made in 2019 in the aftermath of the false Jussie Smollett “hate crime” allegations. Smollett had claimed that conservatives had attacked him in Chicago in the dead of night and assaulted him in a racially motivated attack. Harris called the attacks a “modern-day lynching” in the immediate aftermath before facts were clear. Roy claimed Harris’s impulsive comments demonstrated an irresponsible rush to judgment. Roy said Harris prioritized a “sound bite” over truth.