Evening Standard View: Kamala Harris should be the next president of the United States

There are historical reasons why Britons do not get a vote in US presidential elections. But if they did, Kamala Harris would win in a landslide. According to a YouGov survey, the Democratic candidate has the support of 89 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters, 82 per cent of Labour and even 58 per cent of Conservatives. Only Reform UK voters back Donald Trump.

Of course, it is Americans who will decide. And the election is on a knife-edge. If the polls are right, the contest will come down to mere tens of thousands of voters in seven swing states, chief among them Pennsylvania, which went for the Republicans in 2016 before returning to the Democrats in 2020

If this newspaper had a vote, it would be for Kamala Harris. The vice president has many personal qualities that make her our choice for president. She also has sensible policies on the economy, healthcare and foreign affairs. Harris would also be a historic figure, as the nation’s first female president, and first woman of colour to hold the highest office. Yet the reality is that her greatest credential is who she is not. That is, Trump.

The Republican nominee is not qualified to be president. Nearly four years ago, he fomented an insurrection at the US capitol in order to overturn the results of an election in which he lost. A result he continues to refuse to acknowledge to this day. Numerous former colleagues, including General John Kelly, his longest-serving chief of staff, consider him to be a “fascist”. His former vice president, Mike Pence, is refusing to support him, due to Trump’s repudiation of the Constitution.

A second Trump presidency would also be damaging to Britain. The Republican candidate has repeatedly threatened to withdraw the US from Nato, effectively ending the most successful defensive alliance in history. Trump's tariffs would institute a trade war, severely hurting the British economy. While his threats to force a peace in Ukraine on Vladimir Putin’s terms would only strengthen the forces of authoritarianism and lawlessness around the world.

We have not even got to Trump’s moral failings, not least when it comes to sexual abuse. Last year, the former president was found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in 1996, and was forced to pay her $5 million by the court. Or his plans for the forced deportation of legal migrants in the US. Or his judicial picks, which overturned the constitutional right to abortion.

For the sake of American democracy, and the security and prosperity of all people everywhere, we hope the US elects Kamala Harris to be its next president.