David Pakman Host of The David Pakman Show
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Opinion

What could impact US election in the final weeks that remain?

David Pakman Host of The David Pakman Show
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With the Harris-Trump debate behind us and less than two months left until the November election, there’s dwindling room for any more surprises — but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any. And while most voters already have their minds made up about how they’ll cast their ballots, polling indicates that the race might be tight in the Electoral College, ultimately coming down to a handful of battleground states — even if Kamala Harris wins the popular vote by several million.

Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman reviews what events might still impact polling projections in the brief time before the presidential election.


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The following is an excerpt from the above video:

I hate to say it, but another thing that could really impact this election would be if the Republican Party, MAGA, Trump, et cetera, are able to succeed in the planned voter intimidation that they plan to do, purging voters from voter rolls, that they want to do, that sort of thing, they could affect the outcome of the election without affecting the will of the people. But that is not really an event. That is a voter suppression tactic that would do it.

So my sense is that none of what I just listed is particularly likely, that this will remain close through election day, at least as far as the battleground states go. Remember, Kamala Harris is going to win by millions of votes in California. Trump’s going to win by millions of votes in, I guess in Texas, although Texas is looking closer than many expect. But my point is 100,000 to 250,000 votes in three to five states are likely to ultimately be the difference-makers here, and so turn out in those states is the, if you said rank everything, natural disaster, candidate dying, the whole thing, number one for me is who decides to vote in the three to five critical battleground states.

All right, we are now in the final stretch of the presidential election. We’ve been looking at polling for who knows how long we’ve had debates, we’ve had candidate changes, we we’ve really seen it all. And the question that now remains with polling so tight, so tight is what sorts of events or occurrences could significantly alter the trajectory of this election in the short weeks that remain. I’ll give you a few of them, a major economic downturn or recession. Now, can that even happen in the limited amount of time that there is left? Well, we could certainly get disastrous employment numbers from September in the first week of October, and if you took that combined with a high September inflation number, a crashing stock market, maybe you could have a changed feeling about the economy between now and The election, but it doesn’t seem like the most likely thing, because usually when we are going in a bad direction, indicators change a little bit at a time, a little bit each month at the same time, if there was a significant improvement, that would also have an effect. But the economy is pretty good right now. I think certainly a major recession, if we came to know of one between now and the election would be bad for Kamala Harris, and she’s currently in office, if there were to be a major scandal involving either candidate that could certainly impact the results. Now you have to ask yourself, I don’t think Trump was wrong when he said I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and no one would care. Trump has done just about everything short of that, including being convicted of 34 felony counts. In theory, a major scandal involving either candidate could affect the election. I don’t know that any more Trump scandals would really affect the election, because he’s had so many at the same time. A major Kamala Harris scandal probably could hurt her in the campaign. If there were to be a new foreign policy crisis or war if there is a major terror attack in mid to late October, the October surprise, and it is pinned as something you can blame on Biden Harris. It’s bad for Kamala Harris. On the other hand, it can backfire, because it could create a rally around the president and vice president effect. So such an event could have an impact. Exactly what it would be is not completely predictable. The kind of obvious one would be. And you hate to even say this, but if either candidate died or became incapacitated between now in the election, that would have an impact. I believe, if it happened to either candidate, the other candidate almost certainly wins, in theory, a major court ruling. But we’ve seen that every you know, Trump sentencing has been delayed. Trump’s criminal trials have been delayed. It’s all been pushed off beyond November. So yes, a major legal or court ruling could have an impact. I don’t think we’re going to get one, because they’ve all been delayed a natural disaster with a government response that is either seen as really good, which would help Kamala Harris, or really bad, which would help Donald Trump. That’s certainly a possibility. And we’re getting into hurricane season. We’ve seen that Donald Trump has failed on some hurricane responses previously. So that’s a possibility. People have written in what about some kind of endorsement? I really don’t think so. I think the exception would be if George W Bush came out and said, for the sake of the country, I’m putting country over party, and I’m voting for Kamala Harris, I think that could move some Republicans, but it’s hard to think, you know, I mean, it a major Taylor Swift endorsement of Kamala Harris could probably help but I don’t expect that. And then beyond that, it’s voter suppression. I hate to say it, but another thing that could really impact this election would be if the Republican Party, Maga Trump, et cetera, are able to succeed in the planned voter intimidation that they plan to do, purging voters from voter rolls, that they want to do, that sort of thing, they could affect the outcome of the election without affecting the will of the people. But that is not really an event that is a voter suppression tactic that would do it. So my sense is that none of what I just listed is particularly likely that this will remain close through election day, at least as far as the battleground states go, remember, Kamala Harris is going to win by millions of votes in California, Trump’s going to win by millions of votes in I guess, in Texas, although Texas is looking looking closer than many expect. But my point is 100,000 to 250,000 vote. Its in three to five states are likely to ultimately be the difference makers here, and so turn out in those states is the if you said, rank everything, natural disaster, candidate dying, the whole thing number one for me is who decides to vote in the three to five critical battleground states, let me know what you expect. Let me know what you think i.

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