The choice should not be this difficult. And yet mere weeks from Election Day, the polling has signaled a historically tight race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

This provides more evidence of the nation’s deep divisions, running nearly precisely down the middle. Regardless, after a clear-eyed comparison of the records, the policy proposals and the character of each candidate, Harris emerges as our choice above her Republican competitor.

Polling indicates that this race is on a knife’s edge. Voters are deciding on the basis of their top-line hopes for the presidency, with Trump’s supporters believing he can recapture the relative economic calm, pre-COVID-19, of his first term.

Harris voters like her pro-choice advocacy and endorse her ideas on how government can help make the cost of living more bearable for working-class Americans. Many of them agree that it’s time to turn the page on a painful era that includes the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising at the U.S. Capitol and all that led up to it.

But there is also a more affirmative case to make for Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The work of the federal administration under President Joe Biden and VP Harris benefited the nation — and specifically Hawaii, especially in its response to two crises, the water contamination stemming from the Navy’s Red Hill fuel tanks and the Lahaina wildfires.

More broadly, Harris’ priorities speak to the forward-looking needs of individuals and society at large.

She has pressed most passionately for reproductive rights, and with good reason. Trump’s appointment of three U.S. Supreme Court justices culminated in 2022 in the overturning of the half-century precedent protecting abortion rights, the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.

And that has led to many states adopting extreme restrictions on abortion, including limits on access to lifesaving medical care when pregnancies go wrong. This rightly has motivated many to strike back with ballot initiatives aimed at restoring the rights of body autonomy. Trump, aware of the GOP vulnerability here, has skated around the issue on the campaign trail.

Of course, other major issues have emerged as priorities, including economic worries and immigration unrest.

On the economy, inflation woes — which arose, admittedly, following pandemic-induced federal spending — have receded; other metrics, including low unemployment and a robust stock market, speak to the value of a rational fiscal policy.

The prospective program proposed by Harris, according to some experts, would be healthier for the economy than the former president’s.

The nonpartisan policy group Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (www.crfb.org) advocates for deficit reduction. It found that Trump’s various tax-and-tariff plans could add up to $15 trillion to the nation’s debt between 2026 and 2035. That is nearly double the effect of Harris’ proposed economic plans.

And the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy think tank (itep.org) found that Trump’s tax blueprint would yield an increase for all but the top 5% of American earners. That is a large step in the wrong direction.

As for immigration, Harris correctly tags Trump for opposing the bipartisan legislative package aimed at an incremental improvement in control of migrants at the southern border, a proposal she has pledged to support. It is encouraging to see her register a willingness to work across the aisle — and without denigrating the migrants collectively, as Trump so often does. This stance ought to resonate with Hawaii voters, so many of them of immigrant stock themselves.

And as sea level rise and coastal erosion acutely affect our island state, Hawaii’s interest would be better represented by a Harris-Walz administration, with solid Democratic support for climate-change initiatives.

Congressional choices

This is why the Honolulu Star-Advertiser already has endorsed the reelection of its congressional delegates who are seeking another term this cycle. Those candidates — U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono and U.S. Reps. Ed Case and Jill Tokuda — all have backed these efforts, as has U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, whose next election is in 2028.

Their work on behalf of constituents also includes Hirono’s push for restoring Medicaid to Micronesian islanders here under the Compact of Free Association, federal aid that also would lessen the burden on state coffers.

Case represents Congressional District 1, which is why the push to close the Red Hill fuel storage facility had his attention. As a member of the U.S. House Problem Solvers Caucus, his bipartisan appeal could help in brokering compromises that surely will be needed.

And freshman Tokuda’s position at the forefront of Maui disaster relief in the wake of the 2023 wildfires, as well as her policy goals to reduce gun violence and increase access to health care, reflect Hawaii values.

Sending all three back to Capitol Hill would serve the state well — particularly with a President Kamala Harris in the Oval Office as captain of the team.