VOA新闻杂志2024--Harris, Trump Make Final Push for Votes on Election Day

Vice¹ President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump² are making a final push for votes on the day before Election Day in the United States.

Harris is spending the day in the state of Pennsylvania, looking to win its 19 Electoral College votes. In addition to Pennsylvania, Trump holds campaign events in North Carolina and Michigan.

About 77 million Americans have already voted early. The total is nearly half of the 158 million who voted through Election Day in 2020. Harris and Trump are now pushing for the votes of remaining supporters and undecided voters as voting ends on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5.

Electoral College

In U.S. presidential elections, the candidate who captures 270 or more Electoral College votes is the winner, regardless of the popular vote.

In 2016, Democrat³ Hillary Clinton received nearly 3 million votes more than Trump nationwide. But Trump won 304 Electoral College votes and the presidency⁴. In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden received 7 million votes more than Trump and also won 306 Electoral College votes.

This year, the race comes down to results from seven states, called battleground or swing states, because of changing results from election to election. The states are Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona.

Trump won Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin in 2016 but lost all five states to Biden in 2020. This year, opinion studies from all seven states suggest that Harris and Trump are basically tied.

The vice president became the Democratic candidate after President Biden withdrew from the race in July. The 81-year-old Biden said he would not seek reelection after a poor performance debating Trump in June.

Trump survived an assassination⁵ attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, also in June when a bullet struck his right ear. The gunman was killed after firing several shots. One other person was killed and two were injured at the Trump campaign event.

Trump on the issues

Trump launched his third campaign for the White House by renewing his "Make America Great Again" message and calling for a severe policy on illegal immigration. He promised to deport⁶, or expel, 15 to 20 million illegal immigrants from the country.

Trump blamed Biden and Harris for the inflation that came after the worldwide pandemic. He said his administration would increase taxes, called tariffs⁷, on imported goods, cut taxes for Americans, open more lands for oil and gas exploration and reduce regulations for businesses.

On foreign policy, Trump has criticized NATO and suggested that the U.S. should step back from other defense⁸ treaties. Trump has not said whether he would send more military aid to Ukraine and claimed that he could end the war in the country. Trump said he supports Israel in its war in Gaza and Lebanon. He condemned⁹ pro-Palestinian protests in the U.S. and told Time magazine that the two-state solution might not be possible.

Harris on the issues

Harris, at the age of 60, is projecting her campaign against the 78-year-old Trump as a generational change saying, "We're not going back."

Harris brings attention to her support for abortion¹⁰ rights after the Supreme¹¹ Court's 2022 decision overturning the earlier Supreme Court decision known as Roe¹² v. Wade¹³. Harris said that she "will sign a law restoring and protecting reproductive freedom in every state." While president, Trump appointed three conservative justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, and he said the issue belongs to the states.

On immigration, Harris has spoken of her support for a bipartisan proposal for border security that would increase officers to deal with asylum¹⁴ seekers among other things.

On the economy, Harris said she supports higher taxes for companies and wealthy Americans and lower taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year. She calls Trump's proposed tariffs a tax increase on everyday Americans. Some tariffs put in place during Trump's term in office have remained in place under Biden.

On foreign policy, Harris supports an active role for the U.S. in NATO and other military alliances. She supports continuing U.S. aid to Ukraine against the Russian invasion there. Harris has said that Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas's terrorist attacks. She has called for a cease-fire so that all hostages can be released and has described the situation in Gaza as a "humanitarian¹⁵ catastrophe¹⁶." She also supports a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.

A Trump victory would make him the first incoming president to have been indicted¹⁷ and convicted of a felony in a New York trial. Trump denied any wrongdoing and is appealing the verdict.

A Harris victory would make her the first woman, the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian ancestry¹⁸ to win the U.S. presidency.

And now it is up to the American people.

Words in This Story

regulation -n. a rule or law especially for industries that says how something should or should not be done

projecting -n. to believe or imagine that (your ideas, feelings, etc.) are shared by (another person)

abortion -n. to end a pregnancy¹⁹ by killing²⁰ the fetus²¹

catastrophe -n. a disaster or horrible event

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

6 deport   

vt.驱逐出境

参考例句：

• We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
• More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。

7 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

10 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

11 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

12 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

13 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

14 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

15 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

16 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

17 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

18 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

19 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

20 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

21 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。