The countdown for the presidential election to be held on November 5 in the US has begun. Now just a week is left and the eyes of the entire world are fixed on it. Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris are putting in all their efforts to sway voters in their favour. To strengthen the claim of their candidate of choice, stars from the Hollywood film industry have also joined the election campaign from both sides.
High-profile endorsers for Harris and Trump
In this election, a large number of sports and Hollywood celebrities have openly started supporting their favourite candidates. According to a Forbes report, stars from the sports and film world hope that supporting politicians in this way will have an impact on their fans and they can influence the election results.
Harris is getting the support of personalities like former President Barack Obama and pop singer Taylor Swift, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé and Chris Rock, while Trump has got support of Jason Aldean, Lee Greenwood, Kid Rock and Rosen Barr along with Tesla CEO Elon Musk who has openly come out in Trump’s support.
However, there are many others like Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg, who, despite rumours and speculations about their political inclinations, have kept themselves away from all this. Now a shocking report has come out. It is being said that the Democratic candidate is getting the support of more billionaires than the Republican candidate.
According to US media reports, Bill Gates has donated to a group called Future Forward that supports Harris but the donation has been kept secret because Gates has not publicly supported the Democratic candidate. According to a media report, Gates also expressed concern to his friends and others in private conversations this year about what everything would be like if Donald Trump became the second president.
The Forbes reports that Harris is supported by 76 billionaires whereas, Donald Trump has garnered the support of 49 billionaires so far. The contribution of these billionaires will be made public only after the election when the final report of the Federal Election Commission will be released in December.
What do the pre-poll surveys say?
Despite the high-profile endorsements the pre-presidential election surveys in the US show a close contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. While there are about 150 hours left for the election, many forecasting platforms, including economist Christophe Baraud, have claimed that Republican candidate Donald Trump is heading towards a landslide victory in the presidential election. Baraud, who has topped Bloomberg’s economic forecast rankings in 11 of the last 12 years, is renowned as the world’s most accurate economist. Baraud’s forecast is based on many other metrics including speculative markets such as poly markets and financial market signals. Baraud has pointed to a clean sweep of the Republican Party led by Trump (Trump news) in the elections to be held on November 5. According to Baraud, the Republican Party will win a majority in the Senate in the elections.
Meanwhile, in the top 5 poll of polls, Trump has beaten Kamala by a slight margin. He has gone ahead of Kamala by 0.2%. In the top 5 surveys, Kamala has got support in two, Trump in two and both have equal support in one. To add to the confusion, the final nationwide CNN poll this week found that 47 per cent of likely voters support Harris and the same number would support Trump in the election. In the final national poll conducted by the New York Times/Siena College from October 20-23, the two candidates were tied at 48 per cent. The remaining four per cent of voters are yet to decide their preference. A separate poll conducted by the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business showed that 44 per cent of respondents trusted Trump to handle the economy, while 43 per cent trusted Harris. However, an analysis by FiveThirtyEight Poll Tracker showed that Harris has a slight lead over Trump with 1.7 percentage points. To win the White House race, the successful candidate will have to secure 270 electoral votes out of 538.
Hollywood and its support
This is not the first time in American politics that stars from the film industry and sports world have participated in election campaigns. Hollywood has been seen standing in support of former US presidents like JFK, Biden, Regan etc and have even raised huge funds for their campaigns in past.
However, a look at the profiles of some of Harris’s endorsees shows that some of her high-profile supporters have been embroiled in controversies and thus fail to resonate with the voters. Moreover, some of these endorsements also send a message that Harris is too much reliant on party loyalty rather than broad-based support. It may be noted that some Hollywood figures endorsing Harris have faced controversies which could detract from Harris’s image. Prominent among them are Lady Gaga who is seen as an outspoken activist courting controversies over some of her public comments and performances.
According to Glamour, “Some celebrities have articulated their reasons for supporting Harris, citing her accomplishments as a key member of the Biden administration, while others merely spread the message that she’s the best candidate for the job. Many are excited about the prospect of a woman—and especially a woman of colour—in the Oval Office.
