There’s a reason why both Harris and Donald Trump flocked to Pennsylvania in a last-minute rush for votes in the final hours of their campaigns.

As I wrote last monthWhat makes this battlefield so important is 19 Electoral College votes approved up for grabsThis is the biggest draw of all the swing states in the game this year. (Candidates must receive 270 votes from the Electoral College to become president.)

Pennsylvania has elected an eventual president eight times in the last 10 elections, including Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

This time, it was Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race that completely turned the political landscape upside down.

Suddenly, Trump became the oldest candidate to run for office. Suddenly there was real competition. And suddenly women and young people were in power: the two voting blocs that I had long believed would determine who would win the White House.

“For a lot of people, it looked like this year was going to be a repeat of 2020, and people weren’t very excited about either candidate,” says Nathaniel Bowman, a 22-year-old student from Washington, D.C. After arriving at 12.15pm he secured pole position ahead of the line to enter the rally.

“I think Kamala Harris entering this race has really excited and energized a lot of people who weren’t feeling as energized for this election. And now it’s kind of reversed. You can feel the difference.”

The difference was even evident at Harris’ first rally in Philadelphia in August, when she announced her vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz.

I had attended countless rallies before this, but I had never seen so many women, especially young women, and they have been filling arenas and stadiums all over America at Harris rallies ever since.

Pollster John Zogby of John Zogby Strategies says polls have taken a close look at the gender gap since 1988. This difference (the difference between male and female voting support) was generally around 15 percent.

He states that this year the difference has increased to 30 to 35 percent, with Trump ahead among men and Harris among women. However, when you look at men and women between the ages of 18-34, the difference goes up to 60 points.

“It’s very surprising,” Zogby says. “Forgive the bluntness of this, but this election is all about boys versus girls.”

“So let’s look at Kamala Harris,” he adds. “The first black woman to run for president. He himself did not emphasize this fact, but it is there and it is absolutely accepted by women and young women.

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“But more importantly, beyond the economy, which is the main theme of the campaign, the most important things for young women are, in order: No. 1, reproductive rights; No.2, climate change; and No.3, Gaza. And you see that he emphasizes two of these three, tries to explain the Gaza war masterfully, but actually does not differ from President Biden in any way.”

Whether this is a winning strategy or not will be known soon.

But at Harris’s election-eve rally in Philadelphia, there were no shortage of supporters hopeful that change would come.

Until next time.

Farrah.

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