الوسم: election

What do people in Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon think about the US election? | US Election 2024 News

Israel’s war on Gaza has grown increasingly unpopular in the United States, especially among young Americans.

Still, both the Democrat and Republican leadership have insisted they fully support Israel, even as they offer some calls for an end to the conflict, which has spread to Lebanon.

In the US, many Arab and Muslim Americans, as well as other pro-Palestinian progressives, hold the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris – who is the Democratic candidate for the presidency – responsible for not doing more to stop the bloodshed. Many say they cannot vote for the candidate in the election, even if Republican candidate Donald Trump has firmly been in the pro-Israel camp.

That has led to a fierce debate over what the best course of action should be for those who want Israel to be forced to stop its military attacks on the Palestinians and Lebanese.

But what about in the places most affected by the policy of whoever the American people will choose to be their next president on November 5? Al Jazeera asked several people in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon. Here’s what they had to say.

Gaza

Ammar Joudeh believes Trump was a disaster for Gaza [Maram Humaid/Al Jazeera]

Ammar Joudeh, from Jabalia

“If Trump wins, disaster has befallen us. Trump’s presidency was disastrous for the Palestinian cause. He recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and normalisation with Arab countries increased.

“If Trump wins, we’ll be displaced to the Sinai Peninsula [in Egypt]. Israel has already enacted much of Trump’s plan to displace us from northern Gaza. If Trump takes office again, he’ll finish the plan.

“More than a year has passed, and we’re still stuck – no work, no water, no safe place, no food. Our sadness is deep.”

Tahani Arafat thinks Trump may be able to end the war on Gaza [Maram Humaid/Al Jazeera]

Tahani Arafat, from Gaza City

“There’s no room for optimism, since current discussions are only about ending the Lebanon conflict, as if we don’t exist. But I expect Trump could end the war or find a quick solution.

“The conflict began under Biden and has raged for eight months with no intervention. If the US had truly pressed to stop it, it would have ended before. Instead, we endure war, annihilation in plain view, and Israel receives unwavering military support.

“The Democrats talk of peace but it’s empty. Biden’s term has been the worst for us; maybe Trump would be more decisive.

“No American president will stand by us.”

Imad Dayeh says Palestinians’ suffering is invisible [Maram Humaid/Al Jazeera]

Imad al-Dayah, from Shati refugee camp

“Our biggest hope here in Gaza is for this war to end. To the American people, I would say: support an immediate end to this war, regardless of who wins the election. Trump’s term was a disaster for us. I hope he never returns, as he’ll only cater to Israel’s demands.

“It’s tragic that halting genocide and ending a yearlong war in Gaza depends on political shifts. To the world, our suffering is invisible, but each passing day is filled with blood, tears, and funerals – a truth everyone should remember.”

Occupied West Bank

Khaled Omran would not vote for anyone in the presidential election if he lived in the US [Aziza Nofal/Al Jazeera]

Khaled Omran, from el-Bireh

“On a personal level, of course, there is no change, but on the Palestinian level, we believe that Trump’s victory will be more bloody.

“If I had the right to vote, I would not vote for anyone. The choice here is between bad and worse. Whatever the result, the next president will support Israel.”

Wafaa Abdel Rahman says Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are as bad as each other [Courtesy of Wafaa Abdelrahman]

Wafaa Abdel Rahman, from Ramallah

“As a Palestinian, the two options are worse than each other. It seems to us as Palestinians like choosing between the devil and Satan.

“If Trump wins, I believe that the war will be resolved in Israel’s favour quickly and more violently. Trump policy is clear and known to us as Palestinians. However, Harris will complete what her successor started and adopt the same position as her party, and thus we will remain in a long-term war without a resolution. In both cases, the result is death for Gaza, but in the second case, it will be a slow and more painful death.

“Sooner or later, there will be negotiations to stop the war on Gaza, even if it takes a long time, but [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will be more powerful and able to impose his conditions if Trump wins, and he knows full well that he has the green light to eliminate Gaza.

“As my family lives in the Gaza Strip and I work in the Gaza Strip, I can confirm that the Gazans are interested in the election results, as if they are clinging to a straw and the possibility of salvation after these elections.”

Lebanon

Joy Slim says Republican candidate Donald Trump may be the better option for the Middle East [Mat Nashed/Al Jazeera]

Joy Slim, from Beirut

“I think these days, we as Arabs – as Lebanese or Palestinians – are always choosing between bad and worse. That was always the case when it came to Western policy [on the Middle East] and. specifically, American policy.

“Personally, before the war, I was very critical of Donald Trump and what he represents – his right-wing supporters and what they represent in the US and Europe. But after this year, after what Biden’s administration has done with all the unconditional support to Israel, I’m thinking that maybe it’s better if Trump wins.

“Yes, sure, he may ban abortion – which for me, personally, as a woman, it bothers me – but he still represents a hope of stopping the war [in Gaza and Lebanon]. He might withdraw the US’s full support for Israel and I think he thinks more as a businessman and he wants to save [the US’s] money. I think that is enough for me now.”

Sharif Khailee believes that the United States will never abandon Israel [Mat Nashed/Al Jazeera]

Sharif Khailee, from Beirut

“If you speak to different people in Lebanon, people will give you different views. Some will tell you that Harris will continue the war and some say that Trump might try to end it.

“What I personally believe is that American foreign policy will never change, and no matter what happens, they will support Israel. Trump may do it more financially and Harris militarily, but in the end, American foreign policy won’t change.

“It’s because of their relationship. In the end, you can say Israel is a little mini USA in the Middle East and [the US] won’t get rid of it. It’s their only way to be in the Middle East, without actually having themselves here.”

نوفمبر 4, 2024
How does voting work in the US election? | US Election 2024 News
As Election Day in the United States looms, many Americans have already cast their votes in early voting in person or by mail. Others will vote in person at registered polling booths on Tuesday.

Here is how voting in the US works:

Who conducts elections in the US?

The US does not have a centralised election system.

While the Federal Election Commission enforces federal campaign finance laws, including monitoring donations and public funding for presidential campaigns, the elections themselves are conducted by local authorities within each state.

These authorities adhere to local, state and federal laws as well as being guided by the US Constitution. Hence, election rules vary among states. According to Ballotpedia in 2020, more than 10,000 local entities administered elections in the US.

What time do polls open and close?

Timing depends on the state and municipality. Some polls in Vermont, for example, open as early as 5am Eastern time (ET) (10:00 GMT) in a country with six time zones.

In many states, polls open between 7am and 8am ET (12:00 to 13:00 GMT), including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Florida.

In Hawaii, polls don’t open until noon ET (17:00 GMT), which is 7am local time.

Polling stations close between 7pm ET and 1am ET (00:00 to 06:00 GMT).

How do voters cast their votes?

In the US, no one is required by law to cast a vote. The US does not have a system of online voting.

Voters are assigned polling locations within each district. These locations are generally public buildings, such as convention centres, libraries, schools and community centres.

In these locations, voters enter private polling booths to fill out their ballots.

Hand-marked ballots

Most voters in the US vote with hand-marked paper ballots. Typically, voters fill in an oval or square next to their preferred candidate’s name.

According to the Philadelphia-based nonpartisan organisation Verified Voting, nearly 70 percent of registered voters live in jurisdictions that use hand-marked paper ballots.

Ballot-marking devices

Some jurisdictions provide ballot marking devices (BMDs) that allow voters to cast their votes on a digital device. The device then produces a paper record of the vote. About 25 percent of registered voters live in jurisdictions that use BMDs for all voters.

Direct recording electronic voting

A small number of voters cast their votes using a direct recording electronic (DRE) voting system, with which voters press a button or touchscreen to cast their votes, which then go directly into the computer system. In 2020, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas used DRE machines, according to the Council of State Governments website.

Some DRE systems are connected to a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail printer, which produces a paper record of each vote that the voters can confirm before their vote is recorded in the computer.

Five percent of registered voters live in jurisdictions that use DREs for all voters.

How many people have already voted in the US?

All US states allow voters to cast their ballots before Election Day. Mail-in ballots are the most common method of early voting. All except three states also allow in-person voting before Election Day.

In Alabama, early voting started on September 11 as the state distributed mail-in ballots.

As of Sunday, 77,317,453 people in the US had already cast their votes, according to a tracker on AP News. It is estimated that more than 230 million people are eligible to vote in the US. But only about 160 million of them are registered voters, and not all of them will actually vote.

What ID is required to cast a vote in the US?

It depends on the state.
- Thirty-five states require voters to show some form of valid ID. For 25 of these states, this has to be a photo ID. Commonly accepted forms of ID include a driver’s licence or passport.
- Fifteen states do not require voters to show any ID at polling stations. For example, Nevada does not require voters to bring ID. Instead, voters are asked to sign their name at the polling station, and the signature is compared with the signature and ID they provided when they registered to vote.
Some states that do not require an ID still require voters to show their ID if it is their first time voting or if they did not provide valid ID at the time of registration.

How does the vote count work?

In the US, there is no federal system of counting votes, and the vote count is left up to the states.

Hand-marked paper ballots and ballots marked by BMDs are typically counted using optical scanners and then tabulated digitally to obtain a final tally. Different states have different methods of re-counting and verifying the final count.

States have until December 11 to certify their election results.

What happens next?

The president is not elected directly by the popular vote but instead by the Electoral College.

Under this system, each state has the same number of electors in the Electoral College as its number of seats in the US House of Representatives and Senate. The US has a total of 538 electors, who are appointed by the parties and are almost always party officials or supporters. To win, a candidate needs 270 Electoral College votes.

These electors will meet on December 17 this year to cast the vote for president and vice president.

All states except two operate a winner-takes-all system in choosing their electors, meaning all their Electoral College votes go to whichever candidate wins the most votes.

The only exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, whose Electoral College votes could be split between parties. Their distribution is based on the popular vote within the state and at congressional district levels.

There have been cases in previous elections in which electors have gone against the state’s vote, casting their vote for another candidate. They are called “faithless electors”.

In the highly unlikely but not impossible event of a tie – 269 electoral votes each – the US House of Representatives would decide the next president in what is known as a “contingent election”. Each state’s delegation in the lower chamber of Congress would cast one vote. A candidate must receive a majority of those votes to win.

The US Senate would then choose the vice president with each senator casting one vote and a simple majority (51 votes) required to win.

This means it is theoretically possible that Trump could be voted in as president alongside Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz or Harris could be voted in alongside Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance.
نوفمبر 4, 2024
2024 General Election: Poll Closing Times

By 270toWin Staff

October 27, 2024, 5:28 PM ET

Do not rely on this information to determine when to vote. Your polling place may have different hours.

Standard Time returns Sunday, November 3 at 2:00 AM local time.

While there are some local exceptions, the maps on this page largely reflect the latest in-person poll closing times for the November 5, 2024 general election.

The first map converts all times to Eastern Standard Time. This is useful as a chronological guide to when results will start becoming available through the evening. The second map displays closings in local time.

In most states that span two time zones, polls close at the same local time. In those cases, the Eastern Time Zone map will show two times. For statewide races, the later time is the earliest that media outlets will call or characterize the race. Of course, it could take much longer.

In Nebraska and Tennessee, polls close simultaneously. In these cases, it is the local time map that will show two times.

The Eastern Time Zone map is also available on our Poll Closing Times URL. Toward the bottom of that page is a table that shows the number of Senate, Governor, and House races at each closing time, as well as the number of electoral votes. Below that is a breakdown of congressional districts in seven states where not all close at the same time.

Eastern Standard Time

Local Time

نوفمبر 4, 2024
Trump and Harris hold final campaign rallies on eve of US election | US Election 2024 News

A presidential election unlike any other in US history is entering its last full day with Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and their campaigns scrambling to get supporters to the polls.

The electorate is divided down the middle, both nationally and in the seven battleground states expected to decide the winner on Tuesday.

Trump, a 78-year-old Republican, survived two assassination attempts, just weeks after a jury in New York – the city whose tabloids first elevated him to national fame and notoriety – made him the first former US president to be convicted of a felony.

Harris, 60, was catapulted to the top of the Democratic ticket in July – giving her a chance to become the first woman to become president – after President Joe Biden, 81, had a disastrous debate performance and dropped his re-election bid under pressure from his party.

Polls show Harris and Trump running neck and neck nationally and in the battleground states. More than 78 million voters have already cast ballots, according to Election Lab at the University of Florida.

In the final days of this campaign, both sides are flooding social media sites and TV and radio stations with a last round of campaign ads, and racing to knock on doors and make calls.

Harris’s campaign team believes the sheer size of its voter mobilisation efforts is making a difference and says its volunteers knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors in each of the battleground states this weekend.

“We are feeling very good about where we are right now,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told reporters.

The campaign says its internal data shows that undecided voters are breaking in their favour, particularly women in the battleground states, and that they see an increase in early voting among core parts of their coalition, including young voters and voters of colour.

Trump’s campaign has its own in-house canvassing operation, but has effectively outsourced most of the work to outside super PACs (political action committees), which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money.

They have been more focused on contacting “low propensity” voters, or voters who often do not go to the polls, instead of appealing to middle-of-the-road voters who can flip to either side.

Many in this category are Trump supporters, but they are not normally reliable voters. However, Trump has had success in getting them to turn out in the past.

By cherry-picking the voters they want to contact, Trump and his team say they are sending door knockers to places where it makes a difference and being smart about spending.

US voters will also cast their ballots for thousands of local, state and federal officials and weigh in on crucial referendums.

This includes all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 34 seats or one-third of those in the US Senate, 11 elections for state governors, as well as abortion rights in 10 states.

‘Everything will work out well’

Trump has promised “retribution”, including prosecuting his political rivals, and described Democrats as the “enemy within”.

On Sunday, he complained about gaps in the bullet-proof glass surrounding him as he spoke at a rally and mused that an assassin would have to shoot through the news media to get him.

Harris has cast Trump as a danger to democracy but sounded optimistic at a Detroit church on Sunday.

“As I travel, I see Americans from so-called red states to so-called blue states who are ready to bend the arc of history towards justice,” Harris said. “And the great thing about living in a democracy, as long as we can hold on to it, is that we have the power, each of us, to answer that question.”

Voters responding to a late-October Reuters/Ipsos poll ranked threats to democracy as the second-biggest problem facing the US today, just behind the economy.

Trump believes concerns about immigration, the economy and high prices, especially for food and rent, will carry him to the White House.

His final day of campaigning on Monday will include stops in three of the seven battleground states expected to determine the winner.

“This is really the end of a journey, but a new one will be starting,” said Trump, speaking at his first rally of the day in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“Hopefully, everything will work out well. We’re way leading,” he said, urging people to “get out and vote”.

Trump will also visit Reading and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the Arab-American vote could be crucial. He then plans to return to Palm Beach, Florida, to vote and await election results.

Harris started off Monday in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where she urged a room of campaign workers to “enjoy this moment” as she thanked everyone for volunteering.

“Let’s get out the vote. Let’s win. Let’s get to work. Twenty-four hours to go,” she said. “We are all in this together. We rise and fall together.”

Harris also plans to spend Monday campaigning in Pennsylvania’s Allentown, one of the most competitive parts of the state, with a large Puerto Rican electorate energised by pejorative remarks made during a recent Trump campaign rally. Then, she will visit a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading with progressive New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, before heading on to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Her evening rally in Pittsburgh will feature performances by DJ D-Nice, Katy Perry and Andra Day, before she rallies at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, famous for the “Rocky Steps” and featuring a statue of the fictional Hollywood movie boxer.

نوفمبر 4, 2024
2024 presidential election – live updates

Trump’s media company is a sell ‘even if he wins,’ analyst says

A Trump victory on Election Day won’t change the fundamental challenges his social media company faces, analyst Jay Woods said.

“We are trading this like Gamestop on steroids right now,” Woods, chief capital strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, said of Trump Media on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”

“And you know, kudos to those that are trading it making money. But over the long term, the metrics don’t make any sense,” he said.

Woods said that Truth Social, the company’s main product, is shedding monthly active users and advertising revenue.

Trump Media has said in regulatory filings that it does not track key performance metrics, such as daily and monthly active users. Third-party data firms have clocked a decline in traffic on Truth Social. A Trump Media spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Woods also noted that the investment vehicle of Trump Media co-founders Andrew Litinsky and Wes Moss — who were former contestants on Trump’s TV show “The Apprentice” — sold nearly their entire DJT stake shortly after they were allowed to do so.

Trump, who owns nearly 57% of the company, has vowed not to sell his stake.

Woods said that if Trump loses the election, “you may see even a little rally, people flocking to the site. But overall, how is this going to survive from a fundamental point of view?”

“I think it is still a sell” even if he wins, Woods said.

The analyst wondered whether a future President Trump would have to divest from the company, and questioned why he still uses X, the Elon Musk-owned microblogging site where Trump has a larger following.

“I think Elon Musk will help him solve this problem,” Woods said.

He added: “I don’t think it’s a good buy, even if he wins.”

— Kevin Breuninger

Ballot measures in 10 states could expand abortion rights

A woman walks by campaign signs at an early voting site at the West Oaks Branch Library in Ocoee, Florida, United States on October 27, 2024.

Paul Hennesy | Anadolu | Getty Images

During this election, ballot measures in 10 states could increase abortion access.

In Arizona, Florida, Missouri and South Dakota, the amendments would reverse existing abortion laws and allow the procedures until fetal viability, or what is generally considered around 24 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions after that point.

Most of the measures need the approval of more than 50% of voters to pass.

“Abortion is one of the defining issues of this election and a key motivating factor with voters across the political spectrum, in battleground states — up and down the ballot,” Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer at the American Civil Liberties Union, told CNBC.

— Annie Nova

Michigan final results are expected by midday Wednesday, state secretary says

Voters wait in line to cast their votes during early voting in the U.S. presidential election at a polling station in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. November 3, 2024.

Rebecca Cook | Reuters

The first wave of unofficial results from Michigan polls will be posted by 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and the final results are expected by midday on Wednesday, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a press conference Monday in Detroit.

Nearly 3.2 million people cast their vote already in Michigan with early in-person and absentee voting, according to Benson. More than 1.2 million of those votes were cast during the early voting period, which started on Oct. 26 and ended Sunday.

The results coming out of Michigan, a key swing state in this year’s election, could be deeply influential in each candidates’ bid for the presidency.

— Ece Yildirim

Recreational marijuana could become legal in Florida if ballot measure passes

A proposed constitutional amendment for recreational marijuana is under review by the Florida Supreme Court.

Brad Horrigan | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

After this election, Florida may join the growing number of states where recreational marijuana is legal. Amendment 3, which is on Floridians’ ballots, would legalize the personal use of marijuana for adults 21 and older throughout the Sunshine State.

Meanwhile, in Nebraska, Initiative Measures 437 and 438 will give voters a chance to weigh in or whether or not to legalize and regulate the use and sale of marijuana for medical purposes.

Initiated Measure 29 in South Dakota and Initiated Measure 5 in North Dakota would both legalize the use of recreational cannabis in the states, where medical marijuana is already allowed.

Ballot Question 4 in Massachusetts, where medical and recreational cannabis is also already legal, would go even further by legalizing certain natural psychedelics.

— Annie Nova

Elon Musk uses story of euthanized squirrel Peanut to stoke fears about regulation

Peanut was seized by officers from the state Department of Environmental Conservation at Mark Longo’s home in rural Pine City, New York, on Oct. 30.

Courtesy Mark Longo via AP

Trump fans and surrogates including Republican megadonor and X owner Elon Musk are using the story of a recently euthanized rescue squirrel, Peanut, to rally support for Trump in the final stretch of the election.

Musk is painting the squirrel’s death as an instance of overzealous regulation. He recently posted on X, “So here’s the thing … Don’t make me tap the sign. If they will raid a house for a squirrel, they’re sure as s—- going to come after you.”

Peanut, also known as P’Nut or PNUT, was rescued by animal welfare advocate Mark Longo seven years ago, and turned into an icon on Instagram and OnlyFans. Longo also opened a sanctuary in his pet’s name in upstate New York.

Peanut and a raccoon named Fred were both seized during a raid of P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary on Wednesday by the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation, following anonymous complaints.

The department later euthanized Peanut and Fred to test for rabies after the squirrel reportedly bit a person involved in the investigation. Longo has said he did not see Peanut bite any officer, the Associated Press reported, but also said he knew it was against New York state law to own any wild animal without a license.

JD Vance said that Trump was “fired up” over the animal’s death, and he called Peanut the “Elon Musk of squirrels.”

Trump has not mentioned the squirrel at his many rallies this past week.

— Lora Kolodny

RNC sues Milwaukee over alleged poll watcher limits; city fires back

A man votes on the second day of early voting in Wisconsin at the American Serb Hall Banquet in Milwaukee, Oct. 23, 2024.

Vincent Alban | Reuters

The Republican National Committee has sued the Milwaukee Elections Commission, alleging that the number of observers allowed at voting locations in Wisconsin’s biggest city was “arbitrarily” limited.

The number of observers was limited to two people in at least two polling locations, the RNC said in the lawsuit filed in circuit court in Milwaukee County.

While state law allows the number of observers at polling sites to be “reasonably” limited, the RNC argued that there “was no legal basis” to allow so few poll watchers at the sites in question.

“When access is arbitrarily restricted to two persons, it opens the door to fraudulent claims of party affiliation so as to ‘freeze out’ one or the other major party,” the lawsuit said.

The Milwaukee Election Commission said in a statement to NBC News that it “refutes the claims made by the RNC,” adding that the city “favors the greatest possible transparency during elections,” including “accommodating all observers at election locations.”

The commission also said that it had been in communication with the RNC and met with the committee Sunday night.

But, the commission said of the RNC, “it seems that filing a lawsuit was their goal all along.”

The commission added that the GOP was never denied an observer during the in-person absentee voting period and will not be denied one on Election Day either.

“Our city attorneys will respond to any lawsuits that are filed,” the commission said.

— Kevin Breuninger

U.S. election infrastructure is secure, federal officials say

Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, speaks to The Associated Press in Washington, Oct. 2, 2024.

Ben Curtis | AP

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has seen no evidence of activity that has the potential to materially impact the outcome of the presidential election, Director Jen Easterly told reporters Monday during a briefing.

Easterly said the agency has observed some small-scale incidents during the early voting period, such as severe wet weather and criminal destruction of ballot boxes. She said that disruptions happen in every election and she expects others will follow in the coming days.

“As we head into tomorrow, I can say with great confidence that our election infrastructure has never been more secure and that the election community has never been better prepared to deliver safe, secure, free and fair elections,” Easterly said.

Easterly encouraged Americans to seek out state and local election officials for the most accurate information about their local proceedings.

— Ashley Capoot

Trump Media suddenly surges 16%

Trump Media shares rapidly shot up as much as 16% in intraday trading.

It’s unclear what prompted the sudden surge. DJT stock was down as much as 8% premarket, and in the first hours of the trading day shares had hovered around even.

Many analysts see the stock as a proxy for pro-Trump retail investors to back the Republican nominee or bet on the presidential election. The company’s performance on the Nasdaq has therefore been viewed as an informal gauge of enthusiasm among Trump supporters.

Trump owns nearly 57% of Trump Media.

Trump Media (DJT) Stock Price

Crypto donors have already directed $78 million to a PAC for the 2026 election

Crypto companies have already started donating tens of millions of dollars to a political action committee that is already fundraising for the 2026 election cycle. The pro-crypto and bipartisan super PAC Fairshake said Monday that the committee and its affiliates have raised $78 million for the next midterm elections.

That includes more than $30 million raised, plus $48 million in new commitments from centralized crypto exchange Coinbase and Silicon Valley venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, and other companies.

Overall, a16z has given $70 million to Fairshake, as the VC looks to support the PAC’s larger mission of building a Congress composed of pro-crypto legislators.

Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, announced it would give an additional $25 million to Fairshake, bringing its total donations to Fairshake and its affiliated PACs up to more than $75 million. The crypto company is currently battling the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over claims that it engaged in unregistered sales of securities.

— MacKenzie Sigalos

The gender gap is the most glaring split in the electorate

Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 30, 2024.

Eloisa Lopez | Reuters

Ahead of election day, Americans are sharply divided along racial and gender lines. But the gender gap is becoming the most glaring split, with 57% of women backing Harris and 41% supporting Trump. Among men, 58% are favoring Trump and 20% are backing Harris — a 34-point gender divide, according to the final national NBC News poll.

Harris is also maintaining a large lead among Black voters nationwide, including in the key battleground states.

A separate Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll released Saturday showed Harris leading Trump in Iowa, which has stayed decidedly to the right in recent elections.

Among likely voters, 56% of women preferred Harris, up from 53% from the same poll in September. Among men, 52% back Trump, down from September’s 59%. Among independent voters, Harris is favored 46% to 39%.

Politically independent female voters now support Harris by a wide margin, along with women over 65. Such strong support among these contingents contribute to the positive news for Harris in the most recent polls.

— Jessica Dickler

Trump celebrates the weak October jobs report: ‘I said, ‘Thank you” to God

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., November 4, 2024.

Brian Snyder | Reuters

Trump said he thanked God for the significant miss in the October jobs report Friday, because it could help him make his case against Harris on the campaign trail.

“We had the worst jobs report in modern history,” Trump said at his rally in North Carolina. “I looked up. I said, ‘Thank you.’”

The U.S. added a mere 12,000 jobs in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, well below the Dow Jones estimate of 100,000 and a significant drop from September. It was the weakest pace of growth since late 2020.

Almost immediately, Trump pounced on the downbeat report to help boost his economic pitch to voters.

“I’ve been saying it’s going to happen because of what they’re doing,” Trump said of the Biden administration. “Because they know nothing about economics or business or honestly, they’re stupid people.”

But economists largely view the sharp decline as an anomaly, attributable to temporary shocks including the back-to-back hurricanes in early October and the Boeing strike.

Chief Moody’s economist Mark Zandi called the October report “a head fake.”

“Abstracting from these one-offs,” such as the hurricanes and Boeing strike, Zandi wrote in a Friday post on X, “Employment increased by close to 150k, about the same as the gains in recent months.”

“It is fair to say the job market remains rock-solid,” he added.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Here are the states that have gained or lost Electoral College votes since 2020

A 4th grader works on an election themed art project at Heather Hills Elementary School in Bowie, Md., on Tuesday, October 22, 2024.

Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

A total of 13 states have gained or lost Electoral College votes since the 2020 presidential election, including some battleground states.

The electoral votes are allocated based on the state’s total congressional delegation, which is determined by its population, according to the U.S. Census.

Texas gained two electoral votes. Gaining one vote each were Oregon, Montana, Colorado, North Carolina and Florida.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts a Census every 10 years. The electoral votes for this year’s election are based on the 2020 Census. The numbers weren’t official in time to be used for that year’s presidential election.

Seven states lost a vote: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Illinois and California.

Despite the one-vote loss, California remains the state with the largest share of electoral votes, at 54.

— Ece Yildirim

Harris outspent Trump on ads by over $300 million

A painted mural supporting Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and an electric billboard supporting Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump are seen in Atlanta, Georgia, Oct. 21, 2024.

Yasuyoshi Chiba | Afp | Getty Images

The total ad spending for Harris’ four-month presidential run was $1.26 billion, far exceeding the $933 million in total ad support for Trump, the ad-tracking firm AdImpact reported.

Nearly $1 billion of all ad spending this cycle came in the last week alone, AdImpact data show.

Harris outpaced Trump in ad support despite having essentially launched her presidential campaign less than four months earlier.

President Joe Biden, who dropped out as the likely Democratic nominee in July, received $321 million in total ad support in the 2024 cycle, per AdImpact.

— Kevin Breuninger

Nikki Haley, absent from Trump’s campaign trail, still urges her bloc to vote for him

Former Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley speaks on Day 2 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 16, 2024.

Mike Segar | Reuters

Nikki Haley is urging voters with mixed feelings about Trump to cast their ballots for him anyway.

“I don’t agree with Mr. Trump 100% of the time,” Haley wrote on the last day of the 2024 campaign in The Wall Street Journal. “But I do agree with him most of the time, and I disagree with Ms. Harris nearly all the time. That makes this an easy call.”

In the editorial, Haley said the Biden administration has made “the world far more dangerous” and caused prices to spike for U.S. households. Recently, inflation has cooled from its pandemic peaks, and other data points to a healthy economy.

Haley, a Republican and former governor of South Carolina, dropped her bid for president in March. While she was still in the race, she said in an interview with Craig Melvin, co-host of NBC’s “TODAY,” that Trump was “not the same person he was in 2016” and that he’d become “unhinged” and “more diminished.”

Although Haley said she endorsed Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, she’s been largely absent from his campaign trail.

Some Trump allies think the former president should have campaigned with Haley, who maintains broad support among moderate Republicans, but Trump never warmed to the idea.

— Annie Nova

Trump threatens to impose new 25% tariff on Mexican imports if he wins

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., November 4, 2024.

Brian Snyder | Reuters

Trump says if he is elected president, he would impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican imports unless the country enacts stricter border regulations.

If Mexican leaders “don’t stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country, I’m going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send in to the United States of America,” the Republican presidential nominee said at his first rally of the day in Raleigh, North Carolina.

He added that it was the first time he had announced the proposal, though for months, a central plank of his economic platform has been a hardline approach to tariff policy. Trump has floated a 20% tariff rate on all imports from all countries with an especially high 60% rate on China.

Economists and Wall Street analysts view Trump’s hyper-protectionist trade policy as a potential threat to America’s inflation recovery, just as consumer prices have begun to cool from their pandemic-era spikes. In turn, the Harris campaign has branded the tariff plans as the “Trump sales tax.”

— Rebecca Picciotto

Voters could raise minimum wage in Alaska, Missouri and California

Early and absentee voting begins for 2024 US presidential elections in Alaska, United States on October 21, 2024.

Hasan Akbas | Anadolu | Getty Images

The minimum wage in three states could get a bump on Tuesday.

If history is any guide, ballot measures to raise the minimum wage in Alaska, Missouri and California will likely win support from a majority of voters and lead to bigger paychecks for workers, said Sebastian Martinez Hickey, a state economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.

“Since 2014, 12 states have passed minimum wage increases through ballot measures,” Martinez Hickey told CNBC.

Alaska

Voters in Alaska will decide if they want to hike the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027, with adjustments pegged to inflation after that. Ballot Measure No. 1 would raise the minimum wage to $13 in 2025, and to $14 in 2026.

Alaska’s current lowest possible hourly pay is $11.73, so the increase would be significant for those at the bottom of the earning scale.

Missouri

Proposition A in Missouri, if approved, would gradually increase the minimum wage, with a bump to $13.75 an hour on Jan. 1, 2025, up from the current lowest wage of $12.30. By 2026, the minimum wage would reach $15. Afterward, increases would be based on inflation.

California

In California, Proposition 32 would increase the minimum wage to $18 from $16. The timeline of that boost would vary by employer size, giving businesses with 25 or fewer workers until 2026 to have to pay that amount.

If the measure is successful, larger employers would need to raise the wage to $18 in 2025, and to $17 for the rest of 2024.

— Annie Nova

Barry Diller: Harris should ask Elon Musk to join her administration if she’s elected

IAC Chairman Barry Diller said that if Harris wins the presidency he hopes she will bring conservative billionaire Elon Musk to her administration to cut costs.

“Call him and say ‘You know what, Mr. Musk, you are truly a great cutting executive,’” Diller said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning, before praising Musk’s work at X and calling him “a deserved megalomaniac.”

“‘Come in, help our government. You’ve got absolute authority, cut everywhere,” Diller mused.

Diller also said that he would like to see Harris appoint a Republican with foreign policy experience as secretary of defense.

— Ece Yildirim

Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger warns of foreign election disinformation: ‘Lot of bad people out there’

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a press conference on Georgia’s Presidential Primary Election Day, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., March 12, 2024.

Alyssa Pointer | Reuters

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger urged voters to be on the lookout for false or misleading election claims, warning some are coming from foreign sources who want Americans “fighting amongst ourselves.”

Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, pointed to a recent social media video that showed someone claiming they would vote for Harris multiple times in Georgia.

“It was all made up, and it actually came from Russia,” he said during an election update this morning.

U.S. intelligence officials said Friday that the video was manufactured by “Russian influence actors.”

“So I think we as Americans, we just need to sit back sometime and make sure that you’re really hearing the truth,” Raffensperger said. “Because there’s a lot of bad people out there that want to just kind of get us fighting amongst ourselves.”

“We know who they are. We know Russia, China, Iran. There’s a list of them. It’s a basket full. And they’re just not really our friends. And if they can create us fighting amongst each other, then they feel like they’ve won,” he said.

— Kevin Breuninger

John Paulson: Internal Trump campaign polls show him leading in swing states

John Paulson told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning that he has seen some internal Trump campaign polling showing that Trump is leading or tied in all the swing states.

The polling was done “outside the campaign” over the weekend, after a surprising poll on Saturday showed Harris leading Trump in Iowa.

“I agree that the race is very tight, but I’m optimistic that [Trump] will win,” Paulson said.

— Ece Yildirim

RFK Jr. calls for nominees to positions in a potential Trump administration

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes an announcement on the future of his campaign in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. August 23, 2024.

Thomas Machowicz | Reuters

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is asking people to nominate candidates for positions across a potential Trump administration, according to a post on his Make America Healthy Again website.

The call for nominees is a surprising move from Kennedy, who appears to be at odds with the co-chair of the Trump transition team, Howard Lutnick, over what his potential role might be.

Lutnick recently said Kennedy is not in line for a Cabinet position. “He’s not getting a job for HHS,” Lutnick told CNN’s “The Source,” referring to the Health and Human Services Department. On Sunday, Kennedy told Fox News that Lutnick was wrong, and if Kennedy wanted to be HHS secretary, Trump “would fight like hell to make that happen.”

Still, for Kennedy to be seeking nominees to a potential administration through his own website, and not a Trump campaign site, ahead of the election, is highly unusual. A Trump campaign spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment from CNBC about the nomination site.

The Make America Healthy Again site says it is looking for nominees across 12 categories, including health, economy and government efficiency. At the bottom of the page, there is a form to fill out in order to nominate someone. Once a person is nominated, their profile posts to a public website, unless the nominee specifies otherwise.

Kennedy would likely have a role in health in a Trump administration. He previously ran for president this election cycle before dropping out and endorsing Trump.

— Jake Piazza

Trump Media stock vacillates in heavy trading at market open

A smartphone displays the logo of Donald Trump’s Truth Social app on March 25, 2024.

Anna Barclay | Getty Images

Shares of Trump Media fluttered up and down in heavy trading on the day before the election.

DJT shares were initially up more than 4% after the market opened at 9:30 a.m. ET. But the stock turned negative shortly after, and was down more than 2% by 9:50 a.m.

Earlier Monday morning, Trump Media stock was down as much as 8% in the premarket.

Many of the company’s retail investors are supporters of the former president, who are buying the stock as a way to back Trump or bet on his odds of winning the election.

Trump owns nearly 57% of the company, which operates the Truth Social platform. Trump Media executives have said that the company would benefit if Trump beats Harris in the election.

— Kevin Breuninger

‘I’ve been shocked’: Harris’ edge in Iowa stuns legacy pollster

Pollster Ann Selzer on MSNBC.

MSNBC

The new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll that showed Harris leading in Iowa within a margin of error came as a major surprise — even to the pollster that conducted it.

“This was a shock poll,” J. Ann Selzer, the president of the Des Moines-based polling company that conducted the survey, said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“I’ve been shocked since Tuesday morning last week, so I’ve had the time for this to sink in, because no one, including me, would have thought that Iowa could go for Kamala Harris,” she said.

The poll, which was released Saturday, showed Harris ahead of Trump by 47% to 44%. Though that lead was within the survey’s margin of error of 3.4 percentage points, it was a marked seven-point shift from September. Harris’ edge was partly fueled by a 28-point lead over Trump with independent women voters.

“If you’re a Democrat, you’re really looking at this and hoping that it means something for states like Michigan and Wisconsin that appear to be deadlocked battleground states,” Brianne Pfannenstiel, the Des Moines Register’s chief politics reporter, said on CNN.

— Rebecca Picciotto and Dan Mangan

Trump campaign prepares for what’s next — win or lose

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Atrium Health Amphitheater in Macon, Georgia, U.S., November 3, 2024.

Brian Snyder | Reuters

Top Trump campaign officials acknowledged the possibility that their nominee may not win as they briefed staff about how operations will wrap up after the election.

An internal email, signed by senior advisors Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita and obtained by NBC News, tells campaign staff that their last payroll day is Nov. 30, “regardless of the outcome of the election.”

The message reflects standard procedure for any operation that will soon close its doors, but it is noteworthy when anyone in Trump’s orbit nods to the possibility that he could lose.

If Trump does win, many of the employees will be reassigned to either the Trump-Vance transition team or the president-elect’s inaugural committee, the email says.

Those working at the campaign headquarters in West Palm Beach are advised to clear their work areas of personal belongings by Nov. 10. The space will be converted to handle the transition and inaugural teams, “God-willing,” Wiles and LaCivita write.

“As the campaign comes to a close in a few days, please be proud of the work you have done and the contribution you have made to President Trump and Senator Vance [and their] work on behalf of freedom, security, the financial health of our nation, and to peace around the world,” they write.

“Most of all, be proud that you worked to Make America Great Again.”

— Kevin Breuninger and Jonathan Allen, NBC News

Elon Musk voter lottery hearing underway in Philadelphia court

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk awards Judey Kamora with $1,000,000 during an America PAC town hall on October 26, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Samuel Corum | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A Philadelphia judge could rule at a hearing underway Monday morning that Elon Musk’s $1 million daily voter lottery should be blocked from continuing — but with just a day before Election Day that might not matter much.

Philadelphia’s district attorney last week sued the Tesla billionaire CEO and his political action committee in the county Common Court of Pleas, accusing them of running an illegal lottery by awarding cash prizes — 16 so far — to registered voters in swing states who signed a petition backing the Constitution.

Musk then got the case briefly transferred to federal court, but District Attorney Larry Krasner nearly as quickly got it returned to the county court.

Musk has said his America PAC would run the giveaway until Election Day, so if Krasner gets the injunction he is seeking from a judge at the hearing, it could save the Trump backer a million dollars or two.

— Dan Mangan

Trump Media shares sink in premarket trading, worsening DJT stock slide

Omar Marques | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Shares of Trump’s social media company dropped as much as 8% in premarket trading, exacerbating the Truth Social operator’s stock slide just before the election.

Trump Media, which trades as DJT on the Nasdaq, aw its market cap fall more than 40% between Tuesday afternoon and Friday.

The sudden drop erased much of the company’s gains from a massive rally in October, when its share price more than tripled.

Despite its multibillion-dollar valuation, the company has posted net losses of more than $340 million on revenues of less than $2 million this fiscal year.

The frenetic trading around the stock often seems to bear little correlation to its business fundamentals. Rather, analysts see the company as a magnet for pro-Trump retail investors to support the former president and bet on his odds of beating Harris in the election.

Trump Media (DJT) Stock Price

Harris to barnstorm Pennsylvania on the final day of campaigning

Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris attends a campaign rally, in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 14, 2024.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Harris will spend her final day on the campaign trail holding rallies across Pennsylvania, a must-win battleground state that both Republican and Democratic strategists see as the key to winning the Oval Office.

Harris will start the day in Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton, before holding a rally in Allentown, then going on to a local stop in Reading. On Monday night, Harris will hold rallies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The latter two will feature musical guests, including Lady Gaga in Pittsburgh and Katy Perry in Philadelphia, according to the campaign.

Pennsylvania went for Trump in the 2016 presidential election, but flipped to Joe Biden in 2020. Polls show Harris and Trump neck and neck in the state.

— Jake Piazza

Roughly 76 million Americans have already voted early

Residents of Mecklenburg County wait in line to cast their ballots near campaign signs on the last day of early voting in the state, in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. November 2, 2024.

Jonathan Drake | Reuters

Roughly 76 million Americans have already voted early, both through mail-in and early in-person voting, according to NBC News.

Among the states that record voters’ party alignment, 41% of early voters are registered Democrats and 39% are registered Republicans. Early voting rules differ across states.

— Jake Piazza

Trump to hit three battleground states on election eve

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump smiles while the audience cheers during his rally in Kinston, North Carolina, U.S., November 3, 2024.

Jonathan Drake | Reuters

Trump will split his time across three battleground states on the final day before the election.

Rallies are planned in Raleigh, North Carolina; Reading, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, according to the Trump campaign.

Grand Rapids occupies a unique position in Trump campaign history: Michigan’s second-largest city has been Trump’s final stop on election eve in both of his previous presidential campaigns.

— Jake Piazza

نوفمبر 4, 2024
Trump wants the presidential winner to be declared on election night. That’s highly unlikely

Former President Donald Trump is stepping up his demands that the winner of the presidential race be declared shortly after polls close Tuesday, well before all the votes are counted.

Trump set the pattern in 2020, when he declared that he had won during the early morning hours after Election Day. That led his allies to demand that officials “stop the count!” He and many other conservatives have spent the past four years falsely claiming that fraud cost him that election and bemoaning how long it takes to count ballots in the U.S.

But one of many reasons we are unlikely to know the winner quickly on election night is that Republican lawmakers in two key swing states have refused to change laws that delay the count. That will make it look as if Trump is initially leading, even if that changes as more ballots are tallied later. Another reason is that most indications are this will be a very close election, and it takes longer to determine who won close elections than blowouts.

In the end, election experts note, the priority in vote-counting is to make sure it’s an accurate and secure tally, not to end the suspense moments after polls close.

“There’s nothing nefarious about it,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The time delay is to protect the integrity of the process.”

Trump’s demand also doesn’t seem to account for the six time zones from the East Coast to Hawaii.

These claims have nothing to do with election integrity and all to do with making him president again, said David Becker, an elections expert and co-author of “The Big Truth,” debunking Trump’s 2020 election lies.

“When he’s behind, he’ll say continue the count. When he’s ahead, he’ll say stop the count,” Becker said. “But that’s not how it works.”

Becker said it’s not realistic for election officials in thousands of jurisdictions to “instantly snap their fingers and count 160 million multi-page ballots with dozens of races on them.”

Trump wants the race decided Tuesday night

During a Sunday rally in Pennsylvania, Trump demanded that the race be decided soon after some polls begin closing.

“They have to be decided by 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock on Tuesday night,” Trump said. “Bunch of crooked people. These are crooked people.”

It was not clear who he was targeting with the “crooked people” remark.

Timing is one example of why Trump’s demands don’t match the reality of conducting elections in the U.S. By 11 p.m. Eastern time, polls will just be closing in the two Western swing states of Arizona and Nevada. It’s a big country, and there’s simply no way to know who won those states instantly.

Trump has led conservatives to bemoan that the U.S. doesn’t count elections as swiftly as France or Argentina, where results for recent races have been announced within hours of polls closing. But that’s because those countries tabulate only a single election at a time. The decentralized U.S. system prevents the federal government from controlling elections.

Instead, votes are counted in nearly 10,000 separate jurisdictions, each of which has its own races for the state legislature, city council, school boards and ballot measures to tabulate at the same time. That’s why it takes longer for the U.S. to count votes.

What to know about the 2024 Election

Declaring a winner can take time

The Associated Press calls races when there is no possibility that the trailing candidate can make up the gap. Sometimes, if one candidate is significantly behind, a winner can be called quickly. But if the margin is narrow, then every last vote could matter. It takes a while before every vote is counted even in the most efficient jurisdictions in the country.

In 2018, for example, Republican Rick Scott won the U.S. Senate race in Florida, a state conservatives regularly praise for its quick tally. But the AP didn’t call Scott’s victory until after the conclusion of a recount on Nov. 20 because Scott’s margin was so slim.

It also takes time to count every one of the millions of votes because election officials have to process disputed, or “provisional,” ballots, and to see if they were legitimately cast. Overseas ballots from military members or other U.S. citizens abroad can trickle in at the last minute. Mail ballots usually land early, but there’s a lengthy process to make sure they’re not cast fraudulently. If that process doesn’t start before Election Day, it can back up the count.

Some states, such as Arizona, also give voters whose mail ballots were rejected because the signatures didn’t match up to five days to prove they actually cast the ballot. That means final numbers simply cannot be available Tuesday night.

Election rules are to blame in some states

Some of the sluggishness is due to state-specific election rules. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two of the most important swing states, election officials for years have pleaded with Republican lawmakers to change the law that prevents them from processing their mail ballots before Election Day. That means mail ballots get tallied late, and frequently the results don’t start to get reported until after Election Day.

Since Democrats dominate mail voting, that makes it seem like Republicans are in the lead there until the early hours of the next morning, when Democratic mail votes finally get added to the tally. Experts even have names for this — the “red mirage” or the “blue shift.” Trump exploited that dynamic in 2020 when he had his supporters demand an abrupt end to vote counts — the ballots that remained untallied were largely mail ones that were for Joe Biden.

Michigan used to have similar restrictions, but after Democrats won control of the state Legislature in 2022 they removed the prohibition on early processing of mail ballots. That state’s Democratic Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, said she hopes to have most results available by Wednesday.

“At the end of the day, chief election officials are the folks who have the ability to provide those accurate results. Americans should focus on what they say and not what any specific candidate or folks who are part of the campaign say,” said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Trump allies urge him to declare victory swiftly

Some of Trump’s allies say he should be even more aggressive about declaring victory this time around.

Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, who in 2020 predicted the then-president would declare victory before the race was called, advocated for a similar strategy during a recent press conference after he was released from federal prison, where he was serving time for a contempt of Congress conviction related to the investigation into Trump’s effort to overturn his loss in 2020.

“President Trump came up at 2:30 in the morning and talked,” Bannon said. “He should have done it at 11 o’clock in 2020.”

Other Trump supporters have taken a darker tone. His former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, suggested during a recent interview on the right-wing American Truth Project podcast that violence could erupt in states still counting ballots the day after Election Day because people “are just not going to put up with it.”

Trying to project a sense of inevitability about a Trump win, the former president and his supporters have been touting early vote data and favorable polls to contend the election is all but over. Republicans have returned to voting early after largely staying away at Trump’s direction in 2020 and 2022. In some swing states that track party registration, registered Republicans are outvoting Democrats in early voting.

But that doesn’t mean Republicans are ahead in any meaningful sense. Early voting data does not tell you who will win an election because it only records who voted, not how they voted.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has been explicitly targeting Republicans disillusioned by Trump. In each of those states where more Republicans have voted, there also are huge numbers of voters casting early ballots who are not registered with either of the two major political parties. If Harris won just a tiny fraction more of those votes than Trump, it would erase the small leads Republicans have.

There’s only one way to find out who won the presidential election: Wait until enough votes are tallied, whenever that is.

نوفمبر 4, 2024
US election 2024: What are Harris and Trump’s positions on the key issues? | US Election 2024 News
Here are the presidential candidates’ positions on the economy, immigration, foreign policy and more.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have spent months pitching their different visions for the United States.

The presidential candidates, representing the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, diverge on most of the policies advocated to solve the country’s problems while only agreeing on some.

Al Jazeera has taken a closer look at their campaign platforms and promises to compare their positions on the key issues facing the US.

Economy and Manufacturing

Kamala Harris:
- Cut taxes for “more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans” by restoring Child Tax Credits and Earned Income Tax Credits
- Increase long-term capital gains tax from 20 percent to 28 percent, and corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent
- Federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries
- Focus on Harris’s ‘Opportunity Economy Agenda’, which the campaign frames as a “plan to help small businesses and entrepreneurs innovate and grow”
- A goal of 25 million new business applications in her first term by raising startup expense tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000
- Resist “unfair trade practices” from China or any other country “that undermines American workers”
- Ensure the US is a leader in the “industries of the future”, such as semiconductors, clean energy and artificial intelligence
Donald Trump:
- End inflation
- Cut corporate tax rate to 15 percent
- Would consider significantly increasing the child tax credit
- Cut government spending
- US becomes the biggest energy producer in the world “by far”, and brings down the cost of energy
- Bring supply chains to the US, stop outsourcing, turn the US into a “manufacturing superpower”
- Prevent the importing of Chinese-made vehicles and protecting the US automobile industry
- Nativist economic policy – “Buy American, hire American”
- Increase tariffs on foreign-made goods, while bringing down taxes
Immigration

Harris:
- Says immigration system is “broken”, and needs “comprehensive reform”
- Supports border security bill that would increase detection technology to intercept drugs
- Add 1,500 border security agents
- Provide an “earned pathway to citizenship”
- Increase legal immigration by increasing the number of employment-based and family visas
Trump:
- Deport millions of undocumented migrants in the “largest deportation operation in American history” using military and National Guard
- “Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion” by using military troops on the US-Mexico border and constructing detention facilities there, reinstate ‘Remain in Mexico’, which forces asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico until their immigration court cases have been resolved
- End birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents
- Impose ideological screening of immigrants
- Proposed automatic green cards for foreign graduates of US universities
- Blames immigration for rising housing, education and healthcare costs
Housing

Harris:
- Build three million affordable homes
- Reduce regulations to make it faster to build homes
- Penalise companies that hoard homes and drive prices up
- Provide first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 for downpayments
Trump:
- Reduce mortgage rates by bringing down inflation
- Open up some federal land for homebuilding
- Reduce housing costs by reducing the number of immigrants, who Trump blames for rising prices
Workers’ rights

Harris:
- Sign pro-union legislation such as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), which would limit the power of employers to interfere in trade unions, as well as protecting striking workers
- End taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers
- Fight to raise the minimum wage and end sub-minimum wages for tipped workers
Trump:
- Tax cuts for workers and no taxes on tips
- End taxes on overtime pay
- Both Trump and running mate JD Vance reject the PRO Act, Trump has floated the idea of firing workers who are on strike
Foreign policy

Harris:
- Protect US forces and interests “from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups”, and ensure Iran never becomes a nuclear power
- Back Israel’s “right to defend itself”, and ensure Israel has the ability to do so, rejecting the arms embargo
- Work to end the war in Gaza, “allow Palestinians to realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”
- Stay ahead of China and hold it responsible for human rights violations, while supporting “Taiwan’s ability to defend itself”. Opposes pulling out of an economic relationship with China, instead focusing on “protecting American interests”
- Support Ukraine against Russia for “as long as it takes”
Trump:
- “Peace through strength” that will “prevent World War Three”
- Focus on the threat of China and “secure strategic independence” from China while revoking Beijing’s “most favoured nation” status. Trump has also said that he wants a “good relationship” with China and has praised President Xi Jinping, saying Taiwan should pay for US protection
- Stand with Israel, seek peace in the Middle East
- End the war in Ukraine, no commitment for additional aid for Ukraine against Russia
Crime and Justice

Harris:
- Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, while requiring more background checks and supporting red flag laws that prevent guns from getting into the hands of “dangerous people”
- Invest in law enforcement
- End opioid epidemic
- No presidential immunity for crimes committed while in office
- Supreme Court reforms, including requiring Justices to comply with ethics rules and imposing term limits
Trump:
- Stop the “migrant crime epidemic”
- Defeat foreign drug cartels and end gang violence, called for the death penalty for drug dealers
- Provide police with immunity from prosecution
- Supported rehabilitation for nonviolent offenders in line with criminal justice reform law passed during his presidency
Environment

Harris:
- Build on Inflation Reduction Act, which included green initiatives designed to tackle climate change
- Continue US global leadership on the climate
- “Fight for the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis”
Trump:
- Withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- Cancel electric vehicle mandates
- Remove environmental regulations, such as restrictions on fossil fuel production, deemed “burdensome”
- Push back against the Inflation Reduction Act
- Push for nuclear energy
Education

Harris:
- Ensure affordability of childcare and preschool for children
- End the “unreasonable burden of student loan debt” and make higher education more affordable
- Oppose private school vouchers and tuition tax credits
Trump:
- Close the Department of Education, make the states responsible for education
- Has proposed giving money to families to spend on private school tuition and homeschooling
- Cut federal funding for schools pushing “critical race theory” and “radical gender ideology”
- Deport “pro-Hamas radicals”, make “college campuses safe and patriotic again”
Abortion

Harris:
- Prevent national abortion ban from becoming law
- Will sign any bill passed by Congress that restores the legality of abortion nationwide
Trump:
- Says abortion is a state-level issue, and has said he will not sign a national abortion ban, but did not say whether he would veto any law passed by Congress
Healthcare

Harris:
- Lower the cost of pharmaceutical drugs, extend $35 cap on insulin to all Americans
- Strengthen Affordable Care Act, and lower healthcare premiums
- Work with states to cancel medical debt for more people
- Guaranteed right to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), warned against some Republican efforts to restrict it
Trump:
- Says he is “looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act, which he calls too expensive
- Supports increased access to IVF
- Would “probably” disband the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, calling it “a very expensive solution”
Election laws

Harris:
- Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Acts, which would enshrine voting rights protections and expand vote-by-mail and early voting
Trump:
- Emphasises false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen
- Calls for same-day voting, voter identification, paper ballots and proof of citizenship
نوفمبر 4, 2024
Coinbase, a16z contribute $78 million to pro-crypto PAC for 2026 election

With one day to go until the U.S. general election, crypto companies have already poured tens of millions of dollars into the upcoming 2026 cycle. The pro-crypto and bipartisan super PAC Fairshake said Monday that the committee and its affiliates have raised $78 million for the 2026 midterm elections.

That $78 million breaks down to more than $30 million raised, plus another $48 million in new commitments from centralized crypto exchange Coinbase and Silicon Valley venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, among other companies.

Early Monday, a16z general partner Chris Dixon, who heads up the fund’s crypto book, published a note explaining why the company contributed another $23 million to Fairshake.

“Regardless of what happens in the 2024 elections, we’re committed to supporting policymakers, irrespective of party affiliation, who will work to establish a practical regulatory framework that protects consumers while allowing the industry to grow,” the letter read.

Dixon added that “supporting a PAC like Fairshake is just one crucial part of the strategy needed to achieve our larger policy goals” and that a16z would continue to meet with policymakers on both sides of the aisle to advocate for the industry.

All in, a16z has given $70 million to Fairshake as the VC looks to support the PAC’s larger mission of building a Congress comprised of pro-crypto legislators.

On Wednesday, Coinbase announced it would give another $25 million to Fairshake.

Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over claims that it engaged in unregistered sales of securities. It’s among Fairshake’s top contributors this cycle. The exchange has given more than $75 million to Fairshake and its affiliated PACs.

“We know we need to have pro-crypto legislation passed in this country,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Coinbase shares plummeted 15% after the company reported a miss on the top and bottom lines.

Ripple Labs is another major political donor this cycle that has given around $50 million to Fairshake. A spokesperson said the company committed $25 million both this year and last year and intends to remain a strong force in DC for years to come.

Fairshake told CNBC it’s raised around $170 million this cycle and disbursed approximately $135 million.

The majority of the group’s funds can be traced to Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz and Ripple Labs. The remaining balance comes from a mix of companies and individual donors. Armstrong, for example, gave $1 million, while the Winklevoss twins put in $5 million.

Fairshake was launched last year by a consortium of crypto firms and is one of the top-spending PACs in 2024, even against oil companies and banks, which have historically been big political contributors. Nearly half of all the corporate money flowing into the election has come from the crypto industry, according to a report from the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen.

Fairshake’s spending, which has targeted House and Senate races in the 2024 cycle, is effective. Public Citizen’s report found that of the 42 primary races that attracted money from crypto-backed super PACs, 36 were won by the candidate supported by the crypto industry.

Fairshake’s corporate and individual donors want crypto laws passed in the U.S.

Dixon and others say they’re looking for comprehensive market structure legislation for digital assets and a law to govern stablecoins, tokens pegged to the value of a real-world asset that are now virtually synonymous with U.S. dollar-pegged coins.

“Many industries come to DC asking to roll back rules, and we have come to DC asking to establish them,” Dixon wrote in his post Monday.

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نوفمبر 4, 2024