The Villages, a sprawling retirement neighborhood in central Florida, has been a stronghold for Trump, who gained Florida in each the 2016 and 2020 elections. Harris’s go to comes after President Joe Biden exited the presidential race final Sunday, following criticism of his debate efficiency and issues over his age. Shortly after Biden’s withdrawal, he endorsed Harris for the presidency.
Throughout Harris’s “Weekend of Motion” marketing campaign, Democratic candidate Barbie Harden Corridor shared movies on X (previously Twitter) of enthusiastic Harris supporters, capturing the spectacular turnout of golf carts. Corridor wrote: “HUNDREDS OF GOLF CARTS! And I do not even know what number of supporters all through the route! The Villages, Florida is FIRED UP for @KamalaHarris.”
These movies rapidly gained traction, with Jon Cooper, a Democratic fundraiser, reposting Corridor’s footage. As of Sunday afternoon, the video had amassed over 5 million views. “Belief me once I say it is a SUPER-RED neighborhood that is normally an actual hotbed of Trump help. The truth that there are over 200 golf carts at this rally for @KamalaHarris at present is INCREDIBLE!” Cooper commented.
In response to the rally’s success, Democratic Nationwide Committee (DNC) chair Jaime Harrison appeared on MSNBC’s The Weekend, saying, “The Villages is a ruby pink—there have been 500 golf cart seniors using round, and doubtless voted for Donald Trump, beforehand, supporting Kamala Harris. That is an vitality on the bottom I’ve not seen since Barack Obama in 2008”.
The Florida Democratic Occasion expressed its help for Harris’s marketing campaign efforts, noting in a press launch that she has “energised the whole Democratic base” over the previous week. They reported that just about 10,000 new volunteers from historically conservative areas, like The Villages, have joined the struggle in opposition to Trump and Republican extremism.
With Biden’s current departure from the race, polls on a possible Harris-Trump matchup are restricted. A Redfield & Wilton Methods ballot carried out between July 22 and 24 throughout 9 swing states discovered Trump main Harris in Florida by 8 proportion factors, a barely bigger margin than in opposition to her predecessor Biden. The ballot surveyed 6,927 voters, although the precise quantity from Florida was not specified.
