Aid to the middle classes, right to abortion and defense of minorities, here is Kamala Harris’ program for the presidential election, based on a few key points.
Vice-President Kamala Harris has taken Joe Biden’s place in the race for the White House, increasing the chances of the Democratic camp, an expression of the left and the center in the United States. It generally has the support of minorities, whether ethnic (African-Americans, Latinos and other immigrant communities), religious (Protestantism being the overwhelming majority in the United States, all other religions are part of minorities), or established according to socio-economic profiles.
Kamala Harris is proposing a very different program from her Republican opponent. She has notably made the defense of the purchasing power of the middle classes one of her primary struggles. So what are the key measures in the Democratic candidate’s program?
For economic recovery, the Democrat has three strong measures in mind: a birth tax credit, aid for first-time home buyers or even a boost for business creation. She also promises to fight inflation with a reduction to 3% and price controls for basic necessities and medicines. Kamala Harris also plans to tax the capital gains of households earning more than a million dollars per year at 28%. Conversely, she promised to reduce taxes for the middle and working classes. Kamala Harris opposes her program to that of the Republican who, according to her, “fights” for billionaires and big businesses.
Despite everything, part of the usual Democratic electorate is turning away from Kamala Harris in favor of Donald Trump for economic reasons, notably African-American and Latino men. To convince them, Kamala Harris insisted on measures designed for these communities with an economic “opportunities” program for black men which provides aid for training, apprenticeships and access to employment and entrepreneurship.
Social measures: Abortion and immigration, two important points
Kamala Harris focused her campaign on social measures. She notably highlighted the subject of right to abortionwhich declined until it was banned in several American states after a Supreme Court decision. The Democratic Party wants to guarantee this to all women in the country. If she has placed a point of honor on women’s rights, she also wishes to preserve the rights of LGBTQIA + people.
Kamala Harris also had to clarify its immigration policy and on this point it differs greatly from its opponent. She wants to be firm to attract the moderate right, but not too closed so as not to scare away the left. The candidate then announced a toughening of migration policy involving “consequences” for illegal migrants and investments in physical barriers at the border with Mexico. Above all, it wants to fight against criminal groups who engage in various types of trafficking.
Kamala Harris positions herself on two major subjects: Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On the latter, she reiterated her commitment to the defense of the Jewish state and clarified that she would not suspend American arms deliveries to Israel in the event of victory. But she also wants to appear less pro-Israeli than Joe Biden and has condemned the violence perpetrated against Palestinian civilians. She said “far too many innocent Palestinians had been killed” and called for “a ceasefire.”
As for Ukraine, it provides unfailing support to the country “as long as it takes” in the face of the Russian invasion. For the link with the European Union, it should try to maintain good transatlantic relations.
Kamala Harris did not make ecology a strong subject of her campaign, despite high expectations in environmental matters. However, she defends “the right to breathe clean air, drink clean water and live without the pollution that fuels the climate crisis”, even if she gives few details on how to achieve this. She will continue to highlight the Inflation Reduction Act, which promotes clean energy.
At the same time, she is making about-faces on several measures that she defended in the past: no longer a question of opposing hydraulic fracturing, a technique which allows rocks to be cracked to extract hydrocarbons, no longer a question of banning plastic straws and other waste of the type yet replaceable.