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ARAB AND WORLD

Tue 05 Nov 2024 12:31 pm - Jerusalem Time

Frantic final moments in the race for the White House

On the eve of Election Day in the US presidential election, the two candidates, US Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, and Republican Donald Trump, were active in several rallies, seeking to win the largest number of votes, especially in the swing states.


On this latest tour, Harris, a former attorney general and former California senator born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, will visit Scranton, the birthplace of current President Joe Biden, then Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's largest cities.


Harris held a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday morning, while Trump kicked off his final campaign day with a rally in North Carolina.


The two candidates are focusing their efforts on Pennsylvania, which is considered pivotal in the presidential race, as it provides 19 electoral votes.


For his part, former President Trump addressed a crowd of his supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina, optimistically saying: “North Carolina has always been mine,” before continuing with three more rallies in pivotal states, most notably Pennsylvania.


During his rally in Raleigh, Trump stressed his immigration policies and criticized his Democratic rivals.


After visiting Pittsburgh, the two candidates will wrap up their campaigns in crucial battlegrounds: Trump will head to Michigan, as he did in previous elections, while Harris will end her Pennsylvania tour with a stop in Philadelphia, the state's largest city, which both candidates see as key to victory.


About 75 million citizens have already cast their votes on early voting days.


The elections are likely to be decided in seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.


According to opinion polls, the race is closer in more US states than in any other election in memory.


A candidate needs to get 270 votes out of 535 in the Electoral College to win the presidency.


In averages of polls conducted by The Hill and Decision Desk, the margin between the candidates is less than 2 percentage points in six of those seven states.


Here's a look at where these seven states stand according to the latest polls:


1- In Arizona, which has 11 electoral college votes, polls close at 9 p.m. ET.


Polls show Donald Trump has stronger support in Arizona than in any other state, The Hill reported, leading Harris by about 2.5 points. President Biden won the state by less than half a point in 2020.


Early voting numbers don't look very promising for Kamala Harris, though there's always a danger in extrapolating too much from these statistics.


In the latest figures from the University of Florida Elections Lab — which specializes in tracking early voting — Republicans cast 41 percent of the vote and Democrats 33 percent.


During early voting in 2020, registered Democrats and Republicans each cast about 37 percent of the votes, with the rest coming from people registered in minor parties or unaffiliated.


2- In the state of Georgia (southern), which has 16 electoral votes and was an important location in Biden’s (narrow) victory in 2020, the numbers are still mercurial, and it will be a major blow to Trump if he loses this state, as polls show that he is ahead by 1.8 points.


There is also hope for Harris’s campaign because of a good poll released Sunday. The New York Times/Siena College survey gave the vice president a one-point lead over Trump among likely voters.


3- In Michigan, which has 15 electoral votes, Harris leads by about two points. One important aspect to watch is whether Harris shows weakness with Arab-American voters in Detroit and Dearborn, where the Biden-Harris administration’s policies toward Israel and Gaza have been deeply divisive in a state with the highest concentration of Arab Americans in the country.


4- In Nevada, which has 6 electoral votes, the smallest of the seven battlegrounds, but could be decisive depending on the results of the elections elsewhere. Trump is ahead by 1.3 points.


Early voting is often crucial in the state, and registered Republicans appear to have erased the advantage Democrats enjoyed four years ago.


5 - In North Carolina, with 16 electoral votes and one of the most interesting battlegrounds, the signs are giving mixed signals.


North Carolina was the only swing state Trump won in 2020, so it would be a shock for him to lose it.


The latest New York Times/Siena College poll showed Harris leading by three points among likely voters, boosting her campaign's hopes of flipping the state for the first time since former President Obama won it in 2008.


6- Pennsylvania, with 19 electoral votes, is the largest battleground state in the election. The state has seen numerous rallies by candidates in the closing days, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in television advertising throughout the campaign. The state still looks very close with just a few hours to go before the polls open, though some polls give Trump a one-point advantage.


In Wisconsin, which has 10 electoral votes and is one of Harris’s strongest battlegrounds, it is one of the “blue wall” states, along with Pennsylvania and Michigan, and no Republican candidate has won it in the last four decades, except for Trump in 2016. According to experts, Harris will face an inevitable defeat if she loses in the state.

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Frantic final moments in the race for the White House

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