Milton will have an impact on the presidential elections
When a hurricane hits the United States in the middle of the election campaign, the candidates are forced to show that they can be great leaders in times of crisis: good management can have a great political reward, but minimizing the disaster can cost them dearly.
The United States faces the arrival of powerful Hurricane Milton on the west coast of Florida this Wednesday, just two weeks after the hurricane Helene left 232 dead and a 500-mile trail of devastation across several states, including Georgia and North Carolina.
Both the vice president, Democrat Kamala Harris, and her rival for the November 5 elections, former Republican president Donald Trump (2017-2021), are aware of the impact that natural disasters have had on elections for decades and the importance of defining the narrative around them as soon as possible.
trumpan expert in managing media attention in his favor, was ahead of Harris and the president of the United States himself, Joe Biden, after Helene’s passage, being the first to visit an affected area by the disaster: the state of Georgia, key for the elections.
Trump in Georgia:
Immediately, he monopolized the media with false claims, ensuring that the federal government was not responding to the governors’ requests and alleging that the Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) I was not assisting the victims because he had spent his funds helping migrants.
For its part, Harris has opted for an institutional approach, asking to leave politics aside to focus on those affected. However, it has assumed a more visible role than on other occasions, visiting devastated areas in Georgia and calling the governors directly.
Besides, Biden announced yesterday Tuesday the suspension of his trip to Germany and Angola due to Hurricane Milton. It wouldn’t have been a good look for him or Harris to be overseas while the hurricane hit Florida.
The reality is that, although hurricanes escape human control, voters usually examine with a magnifying glass how politicians offer help and They can even change their voteaccording to John Gasper, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who has studied these events.
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