الوسم: election

US election: It’s voting day – What polls say; what Harris, Trump are up to | US Election 2024 News

On the eve of Election Day in the United States, presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris blitzed through battleground states while trying to drive home key promises to supporters and voters still on the fence.

Vice President Harris zoned in on cities across Pennsylvania while former President Trump made stops in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

The Democratic candidate was joined by pop culture figures including Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey, while Trump called to stage his sons and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, with whom he once had a contentious relationship.

What are the latest updates from the polls?

The race continues to remain tight according to the latest polls, with key swing states presenting narrow leads for both candidates.

According to FiveThirtyEight’s daily tracker, Harris has a 1.2-point lead over Trump nationally, a margin that has remained fairly static in recent days, though it has shrunk compared with a month ago.

In swing states, Harris has a one-point advantage in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lead in Georgia and North Carolina has shrivelled to under one point, while he is ahead by 2.2 points in Arizona.

In Pennsylvania and Nevada, less than half a point separates the two: Harris has sneaked ahead in the former, though only marginally, after trailing Trump narrowly for the past two weeks; while the Republican candidate is barely ahead in Nevada.

Yet, the gap between the two candidates remains within the margin of error of polls in all seven swing states.

Pennsylvania has 19 Electoral College votes, the most among the battleground states, while Nevada has the fewest – six.

Still, Al Jazeera correspondent John Holman said that Nevada could prove to be crucial because of how close the race is. Key election issues resonate strongly here, with Nevada facing one of the highest unemployment rates and costs of living in the US.

More than 82 million Americans have already voted this year, according to a tally by the Election Lab at the University of Florida. The figure represents more than half of the total votes cast in the 2020 presidential election.

What was Kamala Harris up to on Monday?

Harris spent the final day campaigning in Pennsylvania.

The Democratic candidate started off with an event in Scranton, the hometown of President Joe Biden. She continued touting a message of unity while stating that the country is ready to move on from the Trump era.

Between rallies, Harris stopped by the Old San Juan Cafe, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading, Pennsylvania, trying to woo a community that has a large electoral presence in the state and that has come into focus after a comedian made racist comments about the US territory at a Trump event recently.

In the afternoon, Harris made her way to the steel city of Pittsburgh where she pledged to sign into law a national reproductive rights bill if passed by Congress.

Harris capped off the day with a big rally in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which featured music stars Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, as well as influential media personality Oprah Winfrey.

Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Carrie Blast Furnaces in Pittsburgh [Gene J Puskar/AP Photo}

What was Donald Trump up to on Monday?

Donald Trump continued his campaign with a whirlwind tour through North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

In his first stop at Raleigh, North Carolina, the Republican candidate claimed a decisive advantage in the presidential race, which he said was “ours to lose”.

Trump went on to attack Harris on crime and immigration, arguing that “you’ll have open borders the very first day” if she is elected.

The stop marked Trump’s third consecutive day in the state while Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle reported an unusually low turnout in Raleigh, describing the venue as “only half full”, with empty seats visible around the edges.

Trump wraps up a campaign rally at JS Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Caroline [Evan Vucci/AP]

Later, Trump went to Reading, Pennsylvania, where he again suggested that he would carry out mass deportations by invoking an antiquated law, and to get Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters to battle migrants.

Trump said he told UFC CEO Dana White – a backer of the former president – to set up a league. “At the end, I want the migrant to go against the champion, and I think the migrant might actually win, that’s how nasty some of these guys are,” Trump said. “But I don’t know, I doubt that,” he added, trailing off.

He also reiterated unfounded election fraud claims.

Trump also said Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who could siphon votes from Democrats in some swing states, particularly those outraged by the war in Gaza, “may be my favourite politician”.

He ended his day in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a final appeal to voters.

Trump, Donald Trump Jr and Michael Boulos listen as Eric Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Reading, Pennsylvania [Chris Szagola/AP Photo]

What’s next for the Harris and Trump campaigns?

Hailing from California, Harris has voted absentee by mail. Her home state, which carries 54 Electoral College votes, is anticipated to vote Democratic this year, continuing a trend that has lasted for the past 36 years.

According to the NPR radio network, Harris will host a watch party at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, DC. The District of Columbia, with its three Electoral votes, is expected to support the Democratic candidate, consistent with its historical backing in every presidential election.

Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign announced plans last week to host an election watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center instead of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

Despite previously indicating he would vote early, Trump has decided to cast his ballot in Florida on Election Day. Throughout this election cycle, he has encouraged Americans to vote early, even while expressing doubts about the integrity of the electoral process.

Florida, with its 30 Electoral votes, was for many years a swing state, won by former President Barack Obama twice and by Trump in 2016 and 2020. This year, however, Trump is favoured to secure a comfortable victory in the state.

نوفمبر 5, 2024
Trials, drop-outs and assassination attempts: 15 moments that defined the US election campaign | US elections 2024
1. The challengers

The hard-right Florida governor Ron DeSantis was widely seen as the most probable Republican candidate to prevent former president Donald Trump from becoming the party’s nominee for a third consecutive election. However, in January, despite being backed by the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, DeSantis ends his flailing campaign – and eventually endorses Trump, whose team had smeared him as “Pudding Fingers” owing to his alleged eating habits. Running almost as an incumbent, Trump’s last serious challenger ends up being the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who, against all expectations, takes on the mantle of the anti-Trump vote. Casting doubt on Trump’s mental fitness and his loyalty to the US constitution, the former UN ambassador garners significant support – and perseveres until Super Tuesday in March, when she finally stands aside, leaving Trump as the last major candidate standing for the 2024 Republican nomination.

Nikki Haley (left) and Ron DeSantis (right) failed to prevent Trump from becoming the Republican nominee for a third time. Composite: Bloomberg, Getty Images, Reuters, EPA
2. The president

In the annals of American politics, incumbent presidents seeking re-election typically enjoy a significant edge over their challengers. However, Joe Biden – the country’s oldest president – bucks the trend as his meandering remarks, frequent misspeaking of names and halting speech raise concerns that he might just be too old to take on Trump again. Nevertheless, essentially unopposed, the 46th president of the US runs the board in the Democratic primaries and is named the party’s candidate for 2024, while vowing that, despite his advancing years, he remains the most capable contender to defeat Trump once again.

Joe Biden waves to supporters after speaking at a campaign event in March. Photograph: Brynn Anderson/AP
3. The trial

The first real jolt of the election campaign arrives on 30 May, when a jury of 12 New Yorkers makes Trump the first ex-president in American history to become a convicted felon. They find him guilty of committing a crime – 34 of them, in fact – when he falsified business records to disguise $130,000 (£100,000) in hush-money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels, to hide the scandal from American voters on the eve of the 2016 election. It is far from Trump’s only legal woe: at various times he has faced more than 90 criminal counts, including racketeering charges in Georgia for a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results, where he marked another milestone: the first mugshot of an American president. (That case itself later takes a dramatic turn when the district attorney, Fani Willis, is revealed to have had an affair with a prosecutor she hired, and the case remains on hold while a judge considers whether to disqualify her.) Separately, in February, a federal judge orders Trump to pay $83.3m to the writer E Jean Carroll, who had sued for defamation after Trump publicly disputed that he had sexually assaulted her – an accusation the judge ruled was “substantially true”. Many of the other cases remain in limbo while Trump pursues his well worn legal tactic: delay, delay, delay.

Donald Trump’s mugshot released by the Fulton County sheriff’s office. Photograph: Fulton County sheriff’s office/Reuters
4. The debate

Biden’s performance in the opening presidential debate against Trump on 27 June in Atlanta is perhaps one of the worst in American history. Shaky, raspy-voiced and slack-jawed, his disastrous showing is punctuated by repeated stumbles over words, uncomfortable pauses and at least one point where he trails off before claiming: “We finally beat Medicare.” Top Democratic figures and donors panic, while recriminations swirl about the role of his campaign and of the media in failing to adequately account for his apparently declining mental fitness. The drum beat for Biden, 81, to step aside becomes increasingly relentless, as Democratic strategists finally join average voters in questioning whether the party might yet swap him out for a younger standard bearer to face off against Trump.

Trump and Biden during the first presidential debate in June, when the president’s poor performance shocked Democrats. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP
5. The immunity ruling

On 1 July, the supreme court drops a bombshell of its own: it rules that Trump is at least partly immune from criminal prosecution for anything he did in his “official capacity” as president. The decision, a major victory for Trump, destroys the likelihood of a criminal trial for Trump over trying to subvert the 2020 election occurring before the new election in November 2024. It is also the latest example of what most observers agree is the rightwing capture of the supreme court that Trump himself made possible by appointing three arch-conservative judges. Having already overturned Roe v Wade – a monumental victory for the anti-abortion movement, for which Trump proudly claims credit, that made abortion a huge issue in the 2022 midterms and now the 2024 election – the conservatives had caused even more of a furore in May when photos proved an upside down flag flew outside the home of Justice Samuel Alito, a symbol of support for Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement that was prominent at the 6 January riot. Since the immunity ruling, the special counsel Jack Smith has hit back, filing a new indictment with more streamlined allegations; Trump in return has promised to fire Smith “within two seconds” if he wins re-election.
6. The shooting

On 13 July, during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump is shot and wounded in his upper right ear by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who fires eight bullets with an AR-15-style rifle from the rooftop of a nearby building. As security agents cover the president, he stands with a raised fist and shouts: “Fight, fight, fight”, in what becomes an instantly iconic photograph and moment. The shooting claims the life of one attender and two others are left in critical condition; Crooks is killed by security agents. Just nine weeks later, on 15 September, Trump is allegedly the target of a second aspiring assassin at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Secret Service agents find Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, hiding in the bushes with a rifle. As well as setting off a crisis in the Secret Service, the events give Trump a rallying cry for his re-election effort: he appears at the Republican national convention days after the Butler shooting wearing an ear bandage, to a rapturous welcome.

Suspected shooter killed after Donald Trump assassination attempt – video report
7. The withdrawal

At 1.46pm on 21 July, Biden announces he will no longer seek re-election – ending weeks of fevered speculation and mounting pressure from lawmakers, donors, activists and voters terrified of his inability to beat Trump. A key intervention comes from the actor and Democratic fundraiser George Clooney: “It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010,” he writes. Biden’s longtime political ally and ex-House speaker Nancy Pelosi also plays a crucial role in limiting the president’s legacy to one term in what she says is a “cold calculation” for the sake of the country – and later tells the Guardian she has not spoken to her old friend since.
8. The coronation

Taking the stage in Chicago on 23 August to a thunderous standing ovation, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, with the full-throated support of Biden, officially accepts the Democratic presidential nomination, making her the first Black woman to lead a major party ticket. Harris declares the election an opportunity for the country to “chart a new way forward” and encourages voters to write the “next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told”. The impact is immediate and dramatic: she goes on to raise more than $1bn in less than three months, a record, and draws boisterous crowds to energetic rallies where she focuses on reproductive rights, economic help for the middle class and safeguarding US democracy.

Kamala Harris accepts Democratic nomination, urges Americans to ‘fight for this country’ – video
9. The wildcard

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the scion of the most famous Democratic family whose independent campaign for president had at times reached as high as 10% in national polling, drops out. Kennedy had faced a string of scandals, including accusations he had assaulted a former babysitter. He also admitted that, yes, it was him who dumped a bear carcass in Central Park in a case that had mystified New Yorkers a decade earlier. After dropping out, the environmental campaigner turned vaccine skeptic then plays both sides – reportedly making overtures to Harris in August to discuss endorsing her in exchange for a job, then opting to back Trump, who has allegedly offered Kennedy control over the health agencies. Among third-party candidates still running are the environmentalist Jill Stein, who also stood as the Green party’s candidate in 2012 and 2016, the progressive activist Cornel West and Chase Oliver of the Libertarian party.
10. The running mates

In July, the Ohio senator JD Vance formally accepts Trump’s offer to run as his vice-presidential nominee – a dramatic change of position for Vance, the author of the hit memoir Hillbilly Elegy who once described himself as a “never Trumper” and called his new boss “America’s Hitler”. But if there is one quote for which JD Vance will be remembered in history, it is his controversial definition of leading Democrats: “A bunch of childless cat ladies,” he told the Fox News host Tucker Carlson in 2021. On the other side of the aisle, Harris chooses the Minnesota governor Tim Walz, a native of rural Nebraska who was a teacher and high school football coach and served in the National Guard for 24 years before entering politics. Walz captures national attention with a surprisingly effective takedown of Republicans: “These guys are just weird.”

The VP picks: Tim Walz (left) and JD Vance. Photograph: AP
11. The billionaire

The wealthiest man on the planet formally declares what most people had suspected after he bought Twitter and rebranded it as the more extreme X: he is a fully fledged cheerleader for Trump. First endorsing Trump after the assassination attempt, and then dancing and leaping on stage at a Trump rally, the boss of Tesla, Space X and several other companies takes to the newest of his many jobs with a gusto that shames even the most politically active billionaires. Musk becomes everything from a Trump policy adviser to a mega-donor and (through his America Pac campaign group) a leading figure in the Republican “ground game”, its effort to get voters to the polls. In October, he also begins giving away $1m a day to Pennsylvanians who are registered voters – causing a judge to demand his presence in court for running an “illegal lottery”. To those who ask what’s in it for Musk, observers point to billions in federal contracts and Trump promising him a role in helping to gut regulators.

Elon Musk jumps around on stage at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
12. The debate 2.0

On 11 September, Harris outperforms Trump in their first debate, appearing to vindicate Biden’s decision to gracefully bow out and marking a dramatic change in fortune as she takes a slight polling lead over Trump – though the polls essentially remain tied for the remainder of the race. However, it isn’t Harris’s victory that most attracts headlines from the debate, but the former president’s claim about immigrants from Haiti: “In Springfield, they are eating the dogs,” Trump said. “They are eating the cats. They are eating the pets of the people that live there.” Quickly immortalised in a viral song, the statement – an obvious and quickly debunked lie – appears at first to hurt the Republicans, but far from repudiating it Trump and Vance begin repeating it as part of an anti-immigrant focus that the campaign embraces as its driving principle, including a promise to carry out the largest mass deportation in US history.

Harris v Trump: highlights of the presidential debate – video
13. The celebs

If Trump can rely on the support of the world’s richest man, Harris can count on that of its biggest-selling recording artist. In a post on Instagram minutes after the debate, Taylor Swift endorses Harris, encouraging her fans to register to vote and signing it “Childless Cat Lady”, a reference to Vance’s slur. She is hardly alone: Charli xcx had already set off a series of pro-Harris internet memes by tweeting “kamala IS brat” – referring to a lifestyle inspired by noughties excess and rave culture, as well as the name of her hit album Brat – and eventually Beyoncé, Eminem (whose hit Lose Yourself was rapped by Barack Obama at a Detroit rally where the superstar told his home city to “use your voice” for Harris) and dozens more popstars back Harris. From actors such as Robert De Niro – who clashes with Trump supporters outside the ex-president’s hush-money trial in New York – and the cast of Marvel’s Avengers movies, or athletes such as LeBron James (“When I think about my kids and my family and how they will grow up, the choice is clear to me”), most of the highest-profile celebrity endorsements have gone to Harris – though Trump can boast he has Hulk Hogan, Dr Phil and Kid Rock in his camp.

‘Love me some Eminem’: Obama raps on stage at Harris campaign rally – video
14. The rally

Anger and vitriol take centre stage at New York’s Madison Square Garden as Trump and a cabal of his acolytes hold a rally marked by racist comments, coarse insults and threats about immigrants. The rally features nearly 30 speakers, with some of them making a series of racist remarks about Latinos, Black Americans and Jewish citizens. “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Tony Hinchcliffe says, among other controversial remarks including singling out a Black man in a remark about watermelons. In the subsequent hours, Democrats, celebrities and Hispanic groups on both sides of the political aisle condemn the comments as “offensive” and “derogatory”, with many voters of Puerto Rican heritage saying they will change their votes to Harris – potentially a key voting bloc in the swing state of Pennsylvania. The event had already drawn comparisons to an infamous Nazi rally held at the arena in 1939, with the Democratic National Committee projecting images on the outside of the building repeating claims from Trump’s former chief of staff that he had “praised Hitler” – and although Vance dismisses the comparison, many note it was only in 2016 that Vance himself had suggested Trump could become “America’s Hitler”.

Donald Trump fills Madison Square Garden with anger, vitriol and racist threats – video report
15. The final pitches

The days leading up to election day are always the most frenzied, and the 2024 race is no exception, with the candidates trading insults and billions of people around the world glued to the latest polls, which do not show a clear lead for either Trump or Harris. With the White House illuminated behind her, Harris draws a crowd of more than 75,000 people in Washington DC, referring to Trump as “another petty tyrant” who had stood in the same spot nearly four years ago and, in a last-gasp effort to cling to power, helped incite the mob that stormed the US Capitol. Meanwhile, Trump continues to smear immigrants and arrives at a rally in a garbage truck, a stunt to attack Democrats. Police chiefs and sheriffs across the country brace for potential violence against election workers, disruptions at polling locations and harassment of voters, while unfounded allegations of voter fraud prompt fears that Trump could, once more, refuse to accept the results if he loses – and this time get millions of Americans to do the same.

Kamala Harris makes ‘closing argument’ speech, calling for ‘new generation of leadership’ – video

In a race against time, United States presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have traversed the nation’s swing states in a bid to woo undecided voters and bag crucial Electoral College votes that could decide the winner of the 2024 US election.

Even if both White House hopefuls secure their traditional blue (Democratic) and red (Republican) states, the Electoral College votes from those are unlikely to be enough for either candidate to reach the magic number of 270 needed to cross the threshold to victory.

This year, the seven closely watched swing states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and North Carolina.

Here’s a brief look at some of the key issues shaping the swing states and both candidates’ stance on them:

(Al Jazeera)

Arizona: Immigration

Since 1952, Arizona has voted Republican in all but one election (1996) before Joe Biden flipped it in 2020 for the Democrats.

This time, polls show Trump leading marginally.

Arizona is a border state, and many polls have shown immigration and border control as key issues for many of its residents. In a May poll by CBS News, for instance, 52 percent of the respondents said recently arrived immigrants from Mexico had worsened living conditions for them.

Here is how both candidates plan to tackle immigration and border security:

Harris on immigration

Vice President Harris believes the US immigration system is “broken” and in need of “comprehensive reform”. While she has pledged support for a border security bill that would increase detection technology to intercept drugs and has promised to add 1,500 border security agents, Harris has also promised an “earned pathway to citizenship” and an increase in the number of employment-based and family visas.

Trump on immigration

Overall, Trump blames immigrants for rising housing, education and healthcare costs.

Trump’s plans include deporting millions of undocumented migrants by force, sealing the border to stop the “migrant invasion” by using the military on the US-Mexico border, and constructing detention facilities.

The former president wants to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires asylum seekers to stay in Mexico until their immigration cases have been resolved. Trump also wants to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented parents.

The Republican candidate wants to impose ideological screening of immigrants but has proposed automatic green cards for foreign graduates of US universities.

Georgia: Cost of living

Traditionally a Republican stronghold, this southern state went Democratic in 2020 – but only just. The votes in Georgia were counted three times, including once by hand, but that did not stop Trump from controversially attempting to overturn the results.

This time, perceptions about the state of the economy could determine how Georgia votes. A September poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, in partnership with the UK newspaper, The Telegraph, found that 41 percent of Georgia’s voters viewed the economy as the single biggest issue for them.

How do both candidates propose to ease the burden of inflation – which is not yet down to pre-COVID-19 levels?

Harris on cost of living

Harris has promised to cut taxes for “more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans” by restoring Child Tax Credits and Earned Income Tax Credits. She has also pledged to increase Long-Term Capital Gains Tax from 20 percent to 28 percent, and the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent to pay for this.

In order to help lower the cost of living, the vice president has proposed a federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries.

Trump on cost of living

Trump has pledged to “end inflation” and significantly increase the Child Tax Credit while cutting government spending and bringing down the corporate tax rate to 15 percent.

Michigan: Israel’s war on Gaza

The state of Michigan was a key stop in Vice President Harris’s last stretch of campaigning and here is why: Harris wanted to make a last-ditch effort to win over the continent’s largest Arab-American community that has been angered by the Biden-Harris administration’s unequivocal support for Israel in its war on Gaza.

While pre-poll numbers show Harris with a slender lead in the state, Trump will hope that his “Muslim supporters” will help him win in Michigan.

More than 100,000 uncommitted voters in the state have declared that they will not endorse Harris or Trump and some may opt for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, who has pledged to press for a ceasefire and halt weapons sales to Israel.

Harris on Gaza

While Harris has promised to work towards ending the war in Gaza, “allow Palestinians to realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”, she has also backed Israel’s “right to defend itself” and has rejected an arms embargo on the US ally in the Middle East.

Trump on Gaza

Trump has not revealed specific details about what he would do on the issue of Gaza. However, during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July, Trump urged the Israeli leader to “get his victory” over Hamas. He said the killings in Gaza had to stop but that Netanyahu “knows what he’s doing”.

That rhetoric is in line with Trump’s actions during his first run as president. His government recognised the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, prompting anger among Palestinians. He negotiated “normalisation” deals between Israel and several Arab nations under the Abraham Accords and he pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel also opposed.

However, he has also argued that he will push for peace – and get it.

Pennsylvania: Fracking

President Joe Biden’s home state of Pennsylvania offers 19 Electoral College votes, the most among battleground states – and could prove to be the state that determines who wins the election.

In recent days, Harris has gained ground there, according to Democratic strategist Anish Mohanty. “Things have changed in this election over the last few days and the vice president has pulled off her campaign effectively,” Mohanty told Al Jazeera shortly after polls opened on the East Coast. Mohanty alluded to racist remarks against Puerto Rico by a comedian at a Trump rally recently as a turning point for the campaign: Pennsylvania is home to more than 480,000 Puerto Ricans.

But in addition to concerns over political divisiveness, immigration, the state of the economy and abortion, Pennsylvanians are concerned about an issue specific to their state: Fracking.

Fracking is a form of oil and gas production that environmentalists say is bad for the environment but which is the source of a huge number of jobs around the state. The practice causes earth tremors and has a high environmental cost since the procedure consumes large amounts of water, in addition to releasing methane, a greenhouse gas.

An October poll found that the state’s residents are divided on fracking: 58 percent backed it, while 42 percent opposed it.

Harris on fracking

Harris famously opposed fracking when she ran for president four years ago but in late July, her campaign officials confirmed that she will not seek to ban fracking if elected.

Harris wrapped up her campaign with a final, glitzy event in Philadelphia, where iconic talk show host Oprah Winfrey introduced her.

The vice president called on “everyone” in Pennsylvania to vote.

“You are going to make the difference in this election,” she told her supporters.

Trump on fracking

Meanwhile, Trump supports fracking and has said he will once again withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will also remove environmental regulations, such as restrictions on fossil fuel production, deemed “burdensome”. He had withdrawn from the Paris pact during his first term – President Joe Biden had recommitted the US to the agreement when he came to power.

Wisconsin: Healthcare

Up until 2016, Wisconsin had been a reliably blue state for decades, but Trump was able to spring a surprise, beating Hillary Clinton by wooing mostly white, working-class voters who were unhappy about wages, poverty and rising healthcare costs.

Four years later, Biden was able to bring the state back into the Democratic Party’s fold.

This time, multiple opinion polls have suggested that healthcare is the most pressing issue for voters, in a state that has been badly affected by the country’s opioid crisis.

Harris on healthcare

Harris has said she will lower the cost of pharmaceutical drugs, strengthen the Affordable Care Act, and lower healthcare premiums. If elected, she will also work with states to cancel medical debt for more people, she has promised.

Trump on healthcare

On the other hand, Trump says he is “looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act, which he calls too expensive.

Nevada: Unemployment

While Nevada has the fewest Electoral College votes – six – among the swing states, they could still be crucial in such a close race.

Nevada suffers from the highest unemployment rate among all US states – only Washington, DC has a higher joblessness rate – as well as high costs of living.

Harris on unemployment

Harris has promised to review which federal jobs require a college degree if elected president.

“We need to get in front of this idea that only high-skilled jobs require college degrees,” Harris said at a rally in October, promising she would tackle this on “day one” of her presidency.

Trump on unemployment

At his October rally in Nevada, Trump promised to tackle inflation, but in a more recent rally this month, did not address the issue of unemployment.

Al Jazeera’s John Holman, who attended Trump’s November rally in Nevada, noted that while Trump concentrated on migration, the primary concern for voters in Nevada is the economy.

“This is the state with the highest unemployment in the US. It’s been hit hard with inflation. Gas prices, in particular, are high, and it’s a state that has never completely recovered from the pandemic,” Holman said.

North Carolina: Abortion

North Carolina is the only one of this year’s swing states to have been won by Trump in 2020 and although Harris does not necessarily need to win North Carolina, any scenario in which she does will make her path to 270 a lot easier.

Trump can also get to 270 without North Carolina but doing so will be very difficult.

Abortion is a key issue in the state, according to polls. The state reduced the legal limit for abortions from 20 weeks of pregnancy to just 12 weeks in 2023 after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade court ruling granting the right to abortion.

The ruling left the issue largely unresolved and turned the current election into a referendum on fundamental rights for women.

Democrats are hoping that the issue of abortion will motivate white women, who have historically favoured Republicans and 60 percent of whom voted for Trump in 2020, to now vote for Harris instead.

Harris on abortion

The vice president, hoping to become the first female president in the country’s history, has said she will prevent a national abortion ban from becoming law and will sign any bill passed by Congress that restores the legality of abortion nationwide.

Trump on abortion

Meanwhile, Trump has said abortion laws are for individual states to decide and said he will not sign a national abortion ban. However, he has not signalled that he would oppose states – like North Carolina – adopting restrictive measures against reproductive rights.

الوسم: election

What are the latest updates from the polls?

What was Kamala Harris up to on Monday?

What was Donald Trump up to on Monday?

What’s next for the Harris and Trump campaigns?

1. The challengers

2. The president

3. The trial

4. The debate

5. The immunity ruling

6. The shooting

7. The withdrawal

8. The coronation

9. The wildcard

10. The running mates

11. The billionaire

12. The debate 2.0

13. The celebs

14. The rally

15. The final pitches

Trump stumps heavily on economy

Campaign fatigue

Navigating controversy

‘We’ve been waiting four years for this’

Record early voting

History-making race

1824: US House of Representatives weighs in

1876: One vote changed the game

1884: When New York was a swing state

1916: California calls the shots

2000: US Supreme Court decides