US polls suggest Harris and Trump poised for a photo finish as America votes

Final votes will be cast in a deeply divided America on Tuesday as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump face off in the tightest and most volatile US presidential election in memory. Republican former president Trump has promised a “landslide” as he seeks a sensational return to the White House, while Democrat vice-president Harris said the “momentum” was on the side of her bid to be America’s first woman president. But the polls suggested a different story on the eve of Election Day - a near deadlock in surveys nationally and in the seven swing states where the result is expected to be decided. About 78 million Americans already have voted early - around half of the total ballots cast in 2020- but Harris and Trump are pushing to turn out many millions more supporters on Tuesday. Whatever the result, history will be made. A Trump victory would make him the first incoming president to have been indicted and convicted of a felony, after his hush-money trial in New York. He will gain the power to end other federal investigations pending against him. Trump would also become the second president in history to win non-consecutive White House terms, after Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century. Also, Trump has survived not one but two assassination attempts this election cycle. Harris, 60, has played down the historic nature of her candidacy, which materialised only after 81-year-old President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid after his June debate against the 78-year-old Trump accentuated questions about Biden’s age. Instead, Harris has pitched herself as a generational change, emphasised her support for abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision ending the constitutional right to abortion services, and regularly noted the former president’s role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. The election is likely to be decided across seven states. Trump won Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016 only to see them flip to Biden in 2020. North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada add the Sun Belt swath of the presidential battleground map. Trump won North Carolina twice and lost Nevada twice. He won Arizona and Georgia in 2016 but saw them slip to Democrats in 2020. Harris was scheduled to spend all of Monday in Pennsylvania, whose 19 electoral votes offer the largest prize. The Democratic nominee was set to visit working-class areas including Allentown and end with a late-night Philadelphia rally that includes Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey. Trump planned four rallies in three states, beginning in Raleigh, North Carolina and stopping twice in Pennsylvania with events in Reading and Pittsburgh. The Republican nominee and former president was set to end his campaign the way he ended the first two, with a late Monday night event in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Heading into Monday, Harris had mostly stopped mentioning Trump. She promised to solve problems and seek consensus, while sounding an almost exclusively optimistic tone reminiscent of her campaign’s opening days when she embraced “the politics of joy” and the campaign theme “Freedom”. “From the very start, our campaign has not been about being against something, it is about being for something,” Harris said Sunday evening at Michigan State University. Trump, renewing his “Make America Great Again” and “America First” slogans, has made his hardline approach to immigration and withering criticisms of Harris and Biden the anchors of his argument for a second administration. He’s hammered Democrats for an inflationary economy, and he’s pledged to lead an economic “golden age”, end international conflicts and seal the US southern border. But Trump also has veered often into grievances over being prosecuted after trying to overturn Biden’s victory and repeatedly denigrated the country he wants to lead again as a “failed nation”. As recently as Sunday, he renewed his false claims that US elections are rigged against him, mused about violence against journalists and said he “shouldn’t have left” the White House in 2021 - dark turns that have overshadowed another anchor of his closing argument: “Kamala broke it. I will fix it”. Harris’ team has projected confidence in recent days, pointing to a large gender gap in early voting data and research showing late-deciding voters have broken her way. They also believe in the strength of their campaign infrastructure. This weekend, the Harris campaign had more than 90,000 volunteers helping turn out voters - and knocked on more than 3 million doors across the battleground states. Still, Harris aides have insisted she remains the underdog. A final poll from ABC News and Ipsos gave Harris a 49 per cent - 46 per cent edge nationally, while the New York Times/Siena survey released Sunday showed Harris ahead in five of seven swing states. A poll by the Des Moines Register showing Harris with a 47 per cent - 44 per cent lead in Iowa - a state Trump has won in each of his prior elections - was likely an outlier, but suggested the vice-president could be succeeding in her efforts to make inroads with White voters in the Midwest. Still, Harris’ advantage across all of the surveys was within the margin of error, and a NBC News poll released Sunday showed the race deadlocked 49 per cent -49 per cent. Trump’s team has projected confidence, as well, arguing that the former president’s populist appeal will attract younger and working-class voters across racial and ethnic lines. The idea is that Trump can amass an atypical Republican coalition, even as other traditional Republican blocks - notably college-educated voters - become more Democratic. Associated Press, Bloomberg and Agence France-Presse

US polls suggest Harris and Trump poised for a photo finish as America votes

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}With early voting exceeding 2020 levels, both candidates are pushing for a final surge in support to win key swing states and secure victory

With early voting exceeding 2020 levels, both candidates are pushing for a final surge in support to win key swing states and secure victory