哈里斯在新罕布什尔州推行税收计划,而特朗普坚称他仍在为潜在的摇摆州而战
【中美创新时报2024 年 9 月 4 日编译讯】(记者温友平编译)副总统以民主党候选人身份首次访问新罕布什尔州,此时共和党赢得该州的希望正在逐渐消退。《波士顿环球报》记者艾玛·普拉托夫(Emma Platoff)对此作了下述报道。
副总统卡马拉·哈里斯周三在一家啤酒厂的竞选活动中详细介绍了一项促进小企业发展的新税收提案,在共和党在 11 月赢得新罕布什尔州的希望开始渺茫之际,向政治中心发出了有利于商业的呼吁。
“回到新罕布什尔州真是太好了,”哈里斯在成为民主党总统候选人以来的第一次访问中笑容满面。在阳光明媚的田野里,她隔着玻璃向热情的人群讲话,描述了她的新计划——这是她的竞选团队迄今为止宣布的少数经济政策之一——她敦促支持者在未来两个月保持紧迫感。
“新罕布什尔州,看,我们还有 62 天的时间,”哈里斯说。“这场竞选会一直很激烈,直到最后。所以请不要太关注民调,因为我们是弱势一方。”
撇开这些言论不谈,最近的新罕布什尔州民调显示哈里斯的成绩不错——共和党人并没有忽视这一事实,哈里斯的团队当然也没有忽视。这个有时摇摆不定的州的四张选举人票是否仍然真正发挥作用,已成为最近几天争论的焦点。
唐纳德·特朗普在 2016 年新罕布什尔州初选中赢得了他的第一个政治胜利,并经常提醒这里的选民他为保护该州在全国首场初选地位所做的工作。但他的竞选团队最近在新罕布什尔州的正式投资很少;这位前总统自 1 月份赢得初选以来就没有在该州竞选,他的高级代理人几个月来也没有来过。
当拜登总统参加选举时,共和党人对赢得该州充满信心,但自从哈里斯为民主党带来新的势头以来,他们变得更加谨慎。《波士顿环球报》本周报道称,特朗普在马萨诸塞州的一名高级志愿者在一份内部备忘录中写道,竞选团队已经决定新罕布什尔州不再有获胜的可能,新英格兰的支持者应该将他们的努力转向宾夕法尼亚州。
在这一报道之后,特朗普对他的竞选团队不会在新罕布什尔州竞争的说法提出了质疑。
周三上午,特朗普在“新罕布什尔州脉搏”电台节目中露面时承诺将在这里竞选。
“就赢得这次选举而言,这是一个非常重要的地方,”特朗普在哈里斯抵达前几个小时说道。“最终结果可能取决于新罕布什尔州。我会去那里。”
与此同时,在北汉普顿的哈里斯活动中,身着竞选装备、手持哈里斯标语的支持者表示,他们有信心——但不是过度自信——他们的州将支持民主党,就像过去 20 年的每次总统选举一样。在炎热的午后阳光下,来自新英格兰各地的支持者一边吃着 Ben & Jerry’s 冰淇淋和刨冰一边争夺难得的阴凉处,享受着凉爽。
“我认为我们必须认真对待这件事,”70 岁的艾琳·麦库 (Eileen McCue) 在谈到新罕布什尔州的大选时说道。“一切都在进行中。”
麦库已经退休,住在莱伊,她说,现在哈里斯在竞选中处于领先地位,她所在州的兴奋感有所增加;她说,如果周三在啤酒厂发表演讲的是拜登,她不确定自己是否会去。但麦库说,她从观察政治中了解到,事情可能会在最后一刻发生变化。
尽管目前州政府对哈里斯来说形势看好,“但我认为我们一刻也不能放松警惕,”麦库伊说。
18 岁的高中毕业生简·波德拉斯基 (Jane Podrasky) 表示,如果今年秋天她要参加总统大选,她会把第一票投给拜登,但她更愿意把票投给哈里斯。波德拉斯基是一名同性恋,住在朴茨茅斯。她说,共和党对 LGBTQ+ 社区的攻击令人恐惧,哈里斯的参选让她相信新罕布什尔州将是一个欢迎人们居住的地方。
“我想要一个我们可以期待和尊敬的人,”波德拉斯基说。
哈里斯利用这次活动,重点宣传了她的经济信息,提出了针对小企业的新税收提案。该提案将允许新公司扣除高达 50,000 美元的启动费用,目标是在她的第一个任期内创办 2500 万家新小企业。
这是哈里斯自获得提名以来宣布的一系列新政策的一部分。她因很少接受媒体采访,并且很少透露她担任总统后会做什么(包括她的议程与拜登有何不同)而受到批评。
哈里斯的描述很少,这表明她明显关注经济,而民意调查一直显示,经济是选民关注的焦点。她的新计划也代表着向政治中心的接触,因为一项关于小企业税收减免的提议很难让哈里斯听起来像她的共和党对手经常描述的左翼妖怪。
哈里斯承诺“减少繁文缛节”,降低小企业创办者的税收,让业主更容易报税——这些谈话要点也可能由共和党人提出。她还抨击特朗普的政策提议会增加国家债务。而且,在这一点上,哈里斯还宣称“亿万富翁和企业必须缴纳公平的税款”,这可能更能引起左翼的共鸣。
哈里斯的轻松语调和青春主题一直是她崛起的重要部分,尤其是在网络上。一位介绍哈里斯的支持者将她描述为“女性化人物”,这是对广受欢迎的查佩尔·罗恩歌曲的致敬,这首歌赢得了观众的欢呼。
“顺便说一句,我喜欢 Z 世代,我就是喜欢 Z 世代,”哈里斯在回忆她担任副总统期间的大学之旅时说道,引来一片欢呼。
在周三的演讲中,哈里斯还谈到了佐治亚州的校园枪击案,称这是“众多无谓悲剧中的又一个无谓悲剧”。
“在我们美国,父母每天都要送孩子去上学,担心孩子能否活着回家,这真是太离谱了,”哈里斯在悲伤中说道。“事情本不应该这样。”
附原英文报道:
Harris pitches tax plan in New Hampshire as Trump insists he is still fighting for the potential swing state
VP’s first visit as Democratic nominee comes as GOP hopes of winning the state fade
By Emma Platoff Globe Staff,Updated September 4, 2024
NORTH HAMPTON, N.H. — Vice President Kamala Harris used a campaign event at a brewery here on Wednesday to detail a new tax proposal to boost small businesses, offering a business-friendly appeal to the political center at a moment when Republican hopes of carrying New Hampshire in November have begun to dim.
“It’s so good to be back in New Hampshire,” Harris beamed in her first visit since she became the Democratic nominee for president. Speaking from behind glass to a spirited crowd in a sunny field, she described her new plan — one of few economic policies her campaign has announced so far — as she exhorted supporters to maintain a sense of urgency in the next two months.
“New Hampshire, look, we’ve got 62 days to go,” Harris said. “This race is gonna be tight until the very end. So please, let’s not pay too much attention to the polls, because we are running as the underdog.”
Those remarks aside, the most recent New Hampshire polls have looked good for Harris — a fact that has not been lost on Republicans here, and surely not on Harris’s team, either. Whether the sometimes-swing-state’s four electoral votes are still truly in play has become a matter of heightened dispute in recent days.
Donald Trump won his first political victory in 2016 in the New Hampshire primary, and often reminds voters here of his work to protect its first-in-the-nation primary status. But his campaign has made minimal formal investments in New Hampshire recently; the former president has not campaigned in the state since he won its primary in January, and his top surrogates have not visited in months.
Republicans who were bullish about winning the state when President Biden was on the ballot have become more circumspect in the weeks since Harris brought fresh momentum to the Democrats. The Globe reported this week that a top Trump volunteer in Massachusetts wrote in an internal memo that the campaign had decided New Hampshire was no longer winnable, and supporters in New England should redirect their efforts to Pennsylvania.
In the wake of that story, Trump has disputed the idea his campaign won’t compete in New Hampshire.
In a radio appearance with “The Pulse of New Hampshire” radio show Wednesday morning, Trump committed to campaigning here.
“It’s a very important place in terms of winning this election,” Trump said, just hours before Harris touched down. “It could come down to New Hampshire. I’ll be there.”
Meanwhile, at Harris’s event in North Hampton, supporters clad in campaign gear and wielding Harris signs said they are confident — but not overconfident — their state will go for the Democrats, as it has in every presidential election for the last 20 years. Under a hot afternoon sun, supporters from all over New England cooled off with Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and shaved ice as they competed for rare pockets of shade.
“I think we have to take it really seriously,” Eileen McCue, 70, said of New Hampshire in the general election. “It’s all in play.”
McCue, who is retired and lives in Rye, said excitement in her state has increased now that Harris leads the ticket; if it had been Biden speaking at the brewery on Wednesday, she said, she isn’t sure she would have bothered to go. But McCue said she has learned from observing politics that things can change at the last minute.
Even though the state looks strong for Harris now, “I don’t think we can let our guard down for a second,” McCue said.
Recent high school graduate Jane Podrasky, 18, said she would have cast her first vote in a presidential election for Biden this fall but is happier to do so for Harris. Podrasky, who is queer and lives in Portsmouth, said that Republican attacks on the LGBTQ+ community are frightening, and that Harris’s candidacy gives her hope that New Hampshire will be a welcoming place to live.
“I want somebody we can look forward to and look up to,” Podrasky said.
Harris used the event to focus on her economic message with the new tax proposal aimed at small businesses. It would allow new companies to deduct as much as $50,000 in startup expenses, with the goal of launching 25 million new small businesses in her first term.
It’s part of a modest package of new policy announcements Harris has made since she secured the nomination. She has faced criticism for giving few media interviews and offering minimal details on what she would do as president, including how her agenda would differ from Biden.
The little that Harris has described signals a clear focus on the economy, which polls consistently show is a driving issue for voters. Her new plan also represented outreach to the political center, as a proposal for small business tax breaks hardly make Harris sound like the left-wing bogeyman her GOP opponents often describe.
Harris promised to “cut red tape,” lower taxes for those launching small businesses, and make it easier for owners to file their taxes — talking points that could just as plausibly be voiced by a Republican. She also slammed Trump for policy proposals she said would increase the national debt. And, in a point that may resonate more with the left, Harris also declared that “billionaires and corporations must pay their fair share in taxes.”
Harris played into the light tone and youthful themes that have been a powerful part of her rise, particularly online. One of the supporters introducing Harris described her as a “Femininomenon,” a nod to the popular Chappell Roan song that earned cheers from the crowd.
“By the way, I love Gen Z, I just love Gen Z,” Harris said to raucous cheering as she reflected on a college tour she did as vice president.
In her speech Wednesday, Harris also addressed the school shooting in Georgia, calling it “a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies.”
“It is just outrageous that every day in our country in the United States of America that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive,” Harris said in a somber moment. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”