Washington: As Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly beat Donald Trump in a national presidential poll released this week, the Republican rival swiftly shifted his focus on his new opponent after President Biden dropped out of the race. Having consistently attacked Biden as old and feeble, Trump, 78, now faces a younger candidate in Harris, 59, the first Asian American to serve as vice president.
Stepping onto the campaign trail with his rally at Charlotte in North Carolina amid ‘USA USA USA’ chants, Trump dubbed his Democrat rival as “Lyin’ Kamala Harris” and said she was a "radical liberal” who will be rejected by the American voters. “This November, the American people are going to tell her, ‘No thanks, Kamala. You’ve done a terrible job'," the former president further said.
“A vote for Kamala is a vote for four more years of dishonesty and incompetence, weakness and failure,” he added. The former US President's comments came as Harris took a slight edge over Trump in a national presidential poll. She held a two-point lead over Trump, 44 per cent to 42 per cent, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted in the two days after Biden dropped out.
Starting her first campaign rally with Wisconsin, a key swing state, Harris assailed Trump saying that he wanted to take the country backward. Drawing a sharp contrast with Trump, she ticked through a list of liberal priorities, saying that if elected she would act to expand abortion access, make it easier for workers to join unions, and address gun violence, Reuters reported.
In a conference call with reporters, Trump expressed confidence in his ability to defeat Harris. He said: "I want to debate her (Harris), and she’ll be no different because they have the same policies".
