Refer Report

With the first TV debate, which will be a watershed moment for the US presidential election in November, just a week away, the two parties’ candidates are heating up in earnest on the 3rd (local time). Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce additional economic pledges and then focus on preparing for the debate. Former Republican President Donald Trump, who announced a massive campaign schedule before the debate, is strengthening his ‘negative offensive.’

The Washington Post and other American media outlets reported that Vice President Harris will announce an economic policy focused on supporting startups and other small businesses in New Hampshire on the 4th. The new policy is expected to include a plan to increase the tax deduction limit for initial startup costs from the current $5,000 to $50,000 (about 67 million won), ten times that amount. It also includes measures to create a fund to support corporate growth, introduce a standard tax deduction system, and allocate one-third of federal government procurement contracts to small businesses.

This policy, which focuses on fostering small and medium-sized businesses through encouraging startups, is part of the Harris camp’s “opportunity economy” plan, which advocates “rebuilding the middle class.” Vice President Harris previously unveiled economic policies aimed at suppressing prices, including food prices, and controlling the market dominance of large corporations.

The Harris camp also attempted to differentiate itself by attacking former President Trump’s tax cut pledge in a new ad released that day. CBS reported that Vice President Harris plans to visit Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the 5th and stay there until the first TV debate on the 10th to prepare for the debate and contact local voters.

Unlike Vice President Harris, who is known to be cutting back on campaigning and focusing on debate preparation, former President Trump’s schedule is jam-packed with campaigning and other public appearances. He is scheduled to attend the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit in Las Vegas on the 4th, give a speech at the New York Economic Club on the 5th, and visit Mosinee, Wisconsin, a battleground state, on the 7th.

Former President Trump is also stepping up his attacks on Vice President Harris. In an interview with computer scientist Rex Friedman’s podcast released that day, he mentioned Harris’s campaign’s “price control” pledge, claiming, “This is a price control policy that could lead to socialism or communism.”

The Trump camp also claimed in an ad released that day that Vice President Harris was responsible for the murder of a teenage boy that occurred 14 years ago when she was San Francisco’s attorney general. The Washington Post pointed out that the ad was designed to mislead voters into thinking that the boy was killed because of the Biden administration’s failed border policy.

The first TV debate, hosted by ABC in Philadelphia on the 10th, is expected to be a crucial moment in the battle between the two candidates who are locked in a very close race. The two candidates, a conservative white man in his 70s (Trump) and a progressive black woman in her 50s (Harris), are expected to clash on most issues.

With the November 5 election just over two months away, voting procedures are starting soon in some areas. In the battleground state of North Carolina, absentee ballots will be mailed out starting on the 6th. In the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, early voting will be available starting on the 16th. In 14 states, including Virginia and Minnesota, early voting will be available from late September to early October.

Source: Korean