With less than two weeks remaining before the electing day, it has been recorded that over 31 million individuals have already cast their votes. In the bid for the White House, the odds were still evenly poised without a clear favorite. On one hand, we had Kamala Harris setting her course to Texas with the intension to emphasize on access to abortion. On another hand, Donald Trump aimed to appear on Joe Rogan’s widely listened to podcast. Registered votes until Friday morning have crossed the 31 million threshold.
According to data gathered by the Election Lab at the University of Florida, the pre-election vote count has surpassed a whopping 31 million. This vote pool contains 13,687,197 votes registered through early, in-person voting, while mail-in ballots contribute to 17,715,831 of the count. There has been an overwhelming rate of voting this year, with more than 16 million individuals having presented their choice since the start of the week.
Looming large under the electoral microscope, former President Donald Trump had been scheduled to be a guest on the greatly celebrated The Joe Rogan Experience. His presence on the podcast, famed for having around 15.7 million ardent followers, marks a significant step in the campaign. This base of followers overshadows the populace of each of the seven prominent election battleground states, amplifying the reach of Trump’s appearance.
While Trump was busy making waves in the digital sphere, Vice President Kamala Harris embarked on a journey to Houston. Here, she intended to use the platform to voice her stand on one of her highly regarded issues – the freedom to terminate pregnancies. The choice of Texas as her destination was a deliberate one, influenced largely by its constrictive laws surrounding abortion, which ostracizes almost all cases.
In a display that some might consider as an arduous grasp at empathy, Harris planned to share her stage with numerous women, victims of circumstances born out of the absence of access to safe abortions and necessary healthcare. However, one could easily dismiss this as mere political convenience, a way to vilify the conservative policies and gain sympathy votes. The decision largely contradicted many people’s values, adding further flame to the divisive political landscape.
In a move more driven by spectacle than substance, Harris arranged to have several celebrities accompany her, including pop star Beyoncé and country music icon Willie Nelson. These gimmicks were seemingly aimed at enticing the youth vote, further highlighting the Democrats’ detachment from real-world problems.