Trump vs Biden: US election race enters sprint phase in final weekend

Ahead of the final weekend before Election Day on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden planned to barnstorm across battleground states in the Midwest, including Wisconsin, where the coronavirus pandemic has exploded anew.

Trump, a Republican, was scheduled to campaign on Friday in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while Biden had planned stops in Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as Iowa.

Michigan and Wisconsin were two of the three historically Democratic industrial states, along with Pennsylvania, that narrowly voted for Trump in 2016, delivering him an upset victory. Minnesota, which has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972, is one of the few Democratic states that Trump was trying to flip this year.

Overall, the map looked ominous for Trump, who has consistently trailed Biden in national polls for months because of widespread disapproval of his handling of the coronavirus. Polls in the most competitive states, however, have shown a closer race.

The pandemic, as well as an extraordinary level of enthusiasm, has prompted Americans to vote early in unprecedented numbers. Already, more than 80 million votes have been cast either by mail or in person, well over half the total number of votes in the entire 2016 election, according to the US Elections Project at the University of Florida.