By james art In a brief press conference Thursday, Vice President Harris reminded voters that former President Trump tried unsuccessfully to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, during his 2017-2021 presidency.
“Health care for all Americans is on the line in this election,” she told reporters in Madison, Wis., before flying to Arizona and Nevada as both candidates campaigned in the Southwest.
In response, Trump said he never wanted to get rid of the program. “I never mentioned doing that, never even thought about such a thing,” he posted on his Truth Social platform after she made the remark.
Opinion polls show a historically close race between Harris and Trump, with the outcome of next Tuesday’s US presidential election likely to be decided in seven battleground states.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll in October found the race deeply divided by gender, with Harris leading among women by 12 percentage points and Trump leading among men by seven percentage points.
More than 63 million people have already voted through in-person early voting and mail-in ballots, according to the University of Florida Election Lab.
Again a campaign issue, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 provides coverage to approximately 40 million Americans as part of the nation’s patchwork of health insurance programs.
A political liability for Democrats when it was signed into law in 2010, it is now widely popular.
In his 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to repeal Obamacare, and after his election, when the House voted to do just that, he welcomed Republican representatives to the White House for a celebration.
But the repeal effort died in the Senate in July 2017 when the late Sen. John McCain cast the deciding vote with a thumbs-down gesture.
Trump played down the issue during that campaign, although he reiterated Thursday that as president he would make insurers cover the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
When asked about health care in a televised debate with Harris on Sept. 10, he repeated his claim that “Obamacare is crappy health care,” but acknowledged that he has yet to offer a comprehensive alternative, saying he has “concepts for a plan.”
Harris has made abortion rights a cornerstone of his campaign, while Trump has vowed to dramatically reduce immigration.
Democrats questioned Trump’s comments at a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday, when he said: “Whether women like it or not, I have to protect them. I will protect them from the incoming migrants.”
Harris told reporters that he found the “like it or not” comment offensive.
“I actually think it’s very insulting to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their power, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies,” she said.
THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN IN NEW MEXICO
Trump held his first rally of the day in Albuquerque, New Mexico — a state he lost by 10 percentage points in 2020 — before moving on to Henderson, Nevada, one of seven battleground states along with Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Harris made campaign stops in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada.
Both candidates in the Southwest courted Hispanic voters.
While in Albuquerque, Trump claimed he could win over the state’s large Hispanic population, even polling the crowd to see if they preferred to be called “Latino” or “Hispanic.” The answer “Spaniards” won hands down.
In Phoenix, where Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego of Arizona warmed up the crowd with remarks that smoothly switched between English and Spanish, Harris criticized Trump’s rhetoric, which she called “full of hate and division.”
“He insults Latinos, scapegoat immigrants,” Harris said.
Hispanic voters have traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, but Trump is gaining ground among America’s ethnically and religiously diverse Latino population.
Nationally, Trump had the support of 38 percent of registered Hispanic voters in a series of Reuters/Ipsos polls conducted this month, up from 32 percent at the same time in 2020.
Harris’ share of Hispanic voters was 50%, compared to Democratic President Joe Biden’s 54% in October 2020.
Pop star Jennifer Lopez was scheduled to speak at a Harris rally in Las Vegas, where Mexican pop rock band Mana was set to play.
A Trump rally on Sunday in New York sparked protests after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash,” drawing criticism from a number of high-profile Hispanic Americans.