Former US President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is all set for his first campaign event since he survived an assassination attempt, as he takes the stage with his vice presidential pick J.D. Vance in Michigan—a state that is a battleground in all senses. Pressure increased on Democratic rival President Joe Biden from the rank and file to step down amid growing doubts in his ability to win.
Trump and Vance will have a rally in Grand Rapids, which this time has a cover, unlike the open air at Butler in Pennsylvania. Last Saturday, during Trump's speech, a gunman opened fire grazing his right ear. A Secret Service sniper took down the shooter within no time but the motive is yet to be determined by the FBI.
It will be the first time Trump and Vance have appeared together since their nomination at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
While Biden has been closeted at his Delaware home, still recuperating from a Covid-19 infection, more than 35 congressional Democrats flat-out called for him to step down from the presidential race, according to The Washington Post. None of that seemed to faze Biden, who dug in his heels, insisting that he was staying in to the very end.
"I look forward to getting back out on the campaign trail next week, to talk about the danger of Donald Trump's Project 2025 agenda, and my record and vision for America," Biden said recently, referring to a policy plan his allies developed of what a second Trump administration might look like.
Now, however, there are indications that Biden is more willing to have this conversation, which further fuels the rumors over his stepping down to allow Vice-President Kamala Harris to run in his stead as Democratic candidate.
At this point, Trump leads Biden nationally by the narrowest of margins, although everybody is looking at swing states neither party can convincingly claim their own; these include Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona, and Georgia.
RealClearPolitics' polling averages peg the race nationally at 46.7% for Trump, to 42.4% for Biden. State-specific polls show Trump in the lead in key battlegrounds: up 47.4% to 41.4% in Arizona, 47.7% to 43.6% in Nevada, 46.6% to 43.3% in Wisconsin, 44% to 42.3% in Michigan, 47.9% to 43.4% in Pennsylvania, 47.2% to 41.5% in North Carolina, and 46.2% to 42.2% in Georgia. And he has a razor-thin advantage in what was once a Democratic stronghold in Virginia—46.8% to Biden's 43.4%.
Of greatest concern is Trump's competitiveness in Virginia, traditionally a bellwether state that went for Democrats in the recent past.
These election dynamics show that these swing states will hold the key to either of the eventual winner's success, and for whose campaigns are to be made more energetic to secure such vital electoral votes.
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