Will Tim Walz have what it takes to appeal to undecided voters ?
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00Tim Walz has the ideal profile to appeal to middle America, a former schoolteacher,
00:05successful high school football coach, and National Guard marksman.
00:09And Minnesota's Democratic governor also previously managed to hold down a congressional seat
00:14in a largely Republican district for 12 years. But will this translate into national success?
00:20Walz has been a generally popular governor of Minnesota, garnering up to 65 percent approval
00:25in polls, but he's relatively unknown outside the state, meaning he may not be quite the talisman
00:31to win over voters in all important Midwest swing states. In going with Walz, you were giving up on
00:38that sort of immediate electoral benefits that might have come from picking someone like Mark
00:45Kelly or Josh Shapiro. Walz's record as governor has been impeccably liberal with strong support
00:51for education, trade unions, LGBT rights, and stronger background checks for gun owners.
00:57But there are also other aspects Republicans point to that they say show him to be a dangerous
01:01radical. One was signing into law a bill that allowed illegal immigrants to have driver's
01:06licenses, and conservatives accuse him of being too slow to deal with Black Lives Matter protests
01:12following the death of George Floyd in 2020. What may have drawn Kamala Harris to Walz is
01:17the combative way in which he has taken on Donald Trump and Trump's vice presidential pick,
01:22J.D. Vance, in recent weeks. I know it as a teacher. A bully has no self-confidence.
01:28A bully has no strength. They have nothing.
01:35The fascists depend on fear. The fascists depend on us going back. But we're not afraid of weird
01:40people. We're a little bit creeped out, but we're not afraid. Walz is also a skilled political
01:48operator. He was known as a bipartisan legislator during his time in Congress, and as governor he
01:54has managed to push laws through a state senate in which the Democrats had only a one-seat majority,
02:00suggesting that he might just have what it takes to appeal to undecided voters
02:04once they get to know him.