Washington, July 20, 2024-

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is traveling to Michigan, a swing state, for his first campaign rally since his assassination attempt, along with his vice presidential candidate JD Vance. Meanwhile, his Democratic rival President Joe Biden is increasingly gaining votes from members of his party who are calling on him to make way for another candidate for the White House, saying they have no confidence in his ability to win.

Trump and Vance are holding a rally in Grand Rapids, which is an indoor venue, unlike the outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman fired from a nearby rooftop, hitting him in his right ear on Saturday.

The shooter was shot by a Secret Service sniper, but his motive remains unclear, even after a week of FBI-led investigation.

This is the first joint meeting for Trump and Vance since the four-day Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they were sworn in as president and vice president, respectively.

Meanwhile, President Biden remains in self-isolation in Delaware due to a Covid-19 infection. The number of Democrats in Congress calling for his departure has risen to more than 35, according to a tally by The Washington Post.

He continued to rail against allies and associates, saying he was going nowhere and that he wanted to run to the end.

“I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat posed by Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while advocating for my own record and the vision I have for America,” Biden said in a recent statement, referring to a policy plan drawn up by allies for Trump’s second administration if he wins.

But recent news reports indicate that Biden is “more receptive” to talking about leaving office than before, giving hope to the growing group of party leaders that he can be persuaded to step aside and make way for another candidate, which could be Vice President Kamala Harris, who has taken the lead in addressing rallies and fundraisers as Biden recovers from Covid.

Trump is ahead of Biden in national polls, albeit by a small margin, but the focus is on a handful of states that are dominated by neither the Democratic nor the Republican party. They can swing either way from one election to the other, unlike the other states that have remained firmly tied to one party or another, and are therefore known as swing states, also known as battleground states.

They are Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona, and Georgia.

Trump has a 46.7 percent lead over Biden, compared to 42.4 percent in the RealClearPolitics poll average.

The former president is leading 47-4 to 41.4 in Arizona, 47.7 to 43.6 in Nevada, 46.6 to 43.3 in Wisconsin, 44 to 42.3 in Michigan, 47.9 to 43.4 in Pennsylvania, 47.2 to 41.5 in North Carolina and 46.2 to 42.2 in Georgia.

What Democrats find particularly troubling is that Trump is also ahead in Virginia, a state once dominated by Republicans but which has swung overwhelmingly Democratic in recent years.

The former president is ahead, albeit by a very small margin: 45.8 to 43.4. (Agency)