Will Kamala, which means lotus in English, become the next Potus ‐‐ President of the United States?
Washington: Can America vote to pick its first-ever female President? This is one question that is traversing every mind in the United States, and beyond, after a week full of drama where President Joe Biden quit the race and Republican nominee Donald Trump became more vicious after dodging the bullet.
Eight years after Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris could be the first Black woman and the first Indian-American to hold the country’s top job, according to the latest polls and ‘cautiously optimistic’ Democrats who feel they finally have the first female president.
“I’m Kamala Harris, and I’m running for President of the United States. In this election, we each face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in? We each have the power to answer that question and in the next 103 days, we have work to do,” she posted on X (formerly Twitter). She added that a defining goal of her presidency would be to build up the middle class because "When the middle class is strong, America is strong”.
Harris appears to be narrowing Trump's lead in polls, though still within the margin of error, requiring him to reorient his campaign. RealClear Politics aggregation shows Trump's lead at 1.7 per cent against Harris compared to 3.1 per cent against Biden.
According to a poll by Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVOTE), the presumptive Democratic nominee for President has an 18 percentage point lead over her Republican rival Trump in favorability ratings among Indian Americans.
A combined total of 54 per cent of Indian Americans said they have a “very favorable” to “somewhat favorable” impression of Vice President Harris, which was 19 percentage points more than Trump’s 35 per cent. The population of Indian Americans in the US is between 4.16 million and 4.4 million, accounting for nearly 1.4 per cent of the US population of more than 333 million.
Harris is already backed by top Democrats and also has robust celebrity endorsements. All five Indian-American lawmakers in the House of Representatives, including Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna, Shri Thanedar, Pramila Jayapal, and Ami Bera, have hailed Biden's decision, with three endorsing Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee.
In addition, she has raised an unprecedented $100 million from more than 1.1 million people for her presidential campaign, reflecting the groundswell of support for her. This is the highest amount gathered by a candidate in just 24 hours, according to the Harris campaign.
Right now, there is no official Democratic nominee. About 70,000 people are expected to attend the Democratic National Convention from August 19-22 in Chicago to finally pick their candidate. However, a virtual roll call would allow a candidate to officially lock up the nomination before the in-person Democratic National Convention.
