“Society polarized, needs President who can be balanced,” says US professor as countdown to polls on

By Apoorva Kaul

A New York Times/Siena College poll of October 8, shows Vice President Harris with a narrow lead over Donald Trump as the US election enters the home stretch. According to the poll, voters were more likely to see Harris as a break from the status quo.

A break from the status quo maybe exactly what the US voters want, University of Nevada journalism professor Paromita Pain has said that the US society is “extremely polarized” and needs a president who can be balanced in thought and outlook. She stressed that Americans are “deeply concerned and unhappy” about the state of democracy in the US.

In an email interview with ANI, the US professor pointed out that there are clear differences between the two candidates in terms of race, colour, ideology and views regarding issues.

“The US at this point needs a president who can be balanced in thought and outlook. US society is indeed extremely polarized. Pew Research in 2024 showed that Americans are deeply unhappy and concerned about the state of democracy in the country. There is conflict along issues of immigration, abortion and same sex marriage and of course different ethnic and racial backgrounds. There are clear differences between the two candidates not just in terms of race and color bit in terms of ideology and across issues,” Professor Pain said.

Paromita Pain says women’s health rights and immigration are the defining issues in the presidential polls set to be held on November 5 this year. The professor says that even Melania Trump has expressed her support for women’s health rights and the former US president has backed her.

“As someone who is following the elections very closely, I think the defining issues will be women’s health rights and immigration. We have already had Melania Trump talking about how much she supports women’s health rights and Trumps supports her. This is a clear turnaround from how they were discussing these issues earlier,” she said.

Kamala Harris has made her position on the subject public announcing that she would “proudly” sign a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v Wade if she becomes US president.

According to the US professor, Kamala Harris’ race will definitely matter to the voters of colour. Citing Pew research, Paromita Pain said that majority of Americans believe that being woman of colour and Asian will be an asset.

“Her (Kamala Harris) race and color will certainty matter as they already have. in 2020, when she was named the vice president, the sexualized hashtag #heelsupharris appeared 35,479 times in Twitter posts, according to an analysis by the media intelligence platform Zignal Labs. It also found that, immediately following the running-mate announcement, false claims about Harris were being shared at least 3,000 times an hour on Twitter. Pew research has clearly shown that most Americans believe that her gender and her being black and Asian will be an asset,” she said.

Kamala Harris’ mother was Indian and her father Jamaican. Her parents had immigrated to the United States. She is the first woman of colour and the first Asian American vice president.

Trump has been launching personal attacks on Harris by claiming that she, after being of “Indian heritage” for years, “turned black” a few years ago.

The US professor however says the court cases against Donald Trump do not appear to affect the voters decision adversely.

“Trump’s cases were present in the earlier election as well. They did not seem to impact voter decisions adversely. We will have to watch and see the results from this election to measure the impact.”

Paromita Pain is an Associate Professor, Global Media Studies, and Cybersecurity Center Affiliate Faculty, University of Nevada, Reno. She is also an Affiliate Faculty at the Ozmen Institute.