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The 2023 US presidential election, a historical event, approaches its final day with both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris aggressively seeking to motivate their supporters to cast ballots. The race is considered pivotal, with both candidates presenting it as an existential moment for America. Despite the whirlwind of events in recent months, the electorate remains deeply divided, both nationally and in the crucial battleground states expected to determine the outcome. The closeness of the contest suggests that it may take days for a victor to emerge.
Despite the turbulence, the core dynamics of the campaign have remained largely unchanged. Polls indicate that Harris and Trump are running neck-and-neck, both nationwide and within the battleground states. While over 77 million voters have already cast their ballots, the next two days will be crucial in assessing which campaign's efforts are more effective in driving voters to the polls. This election reflects the immense passion Trump evokes within both political parties, with voter turnout exceeding century-old records in the past two presidential elections.
As the election nears its conclusion, both sides are inundating social media, television, and radio with a final barrage of advertising campaigns. They are also intensifying their efforts to knock on doors and make phone calls. The Harris campaign believes its extensive voter mobilization efforts are making a difference, claiming its volunteers canvassed hundreds of thousands of doors in each battleground state this weekend. The campaign reports internal data indicating that undecided voters are leaning in their favor, particularly among women in the battleground states, and observing an increase in early voting among key parts of their coalition, including young voters and voters of color.
Trump's campaign, while maintaining its own canvassing operation, has largely outsourced this effort to external Super PACs. These allied political groups are allowed to raise and spend unlimited sums of money. Their focus has been on engaging 'low-propensity' voters, individuals who often skip elections, rather than targeting moderate voters who might be swayed to either side. A significant portion of this group consists of Trump supporters, but they are not typically consistent voters. By strategically selecting the voters they wish to contact, Trump and his team contend they are deploying door knockers to locations where their efforts will have the most impact and employing a cost-effective approach.
Trump and his allies, who have repeatedly and falsely claimed that his defeat in the 2020 election was the result of voter fraud, have spent months preparing to contest the outcome once again should he lose. He has made threats of 'retribution,' discussed prosecuting his political opponents, and labelled Democrats as the 'enemy within.' On Sunday, Trump expressed concern about the bulletproof glass surrounding him during a rally, speculating that an assassin would have to shoot through the news media to reach him, adding, 'I don't mind that so much.'
Harris has characterized Trump as a threat to democracy, but expressed optimism 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 toward justice,' Harris remarked. '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.'
In a late-October Reuters/Ipsos poll, voters ranked threats to democracy as the second most pressing issue facing the US, trailing only the economy. Trump believes that anxieties over the economy and rising prices, particularly for food and rent, will propel him to the White House. 'We're going to cut your taxes, end inflation, slash your prices, raise your wages and bring thousands of factories back to America,' Trump asserted on Sunday at a midday rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
Trump's final day of campaigning will include stops in three crucial battleground states. He plans to visit Raleigh, North Carolina; Reading and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. After completing his campaign trail, he intends to return to Palm Beach, Florida, to vote and await the election results. Harris will spend Monday campaigning in Pennsylvania, beginning in Allentown, a highly contested area within the state, before moving on to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Pennsylvania holds the most significant prize among the battleground states, offering 19 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency.
Nonpartisan US election analysts calculate that Harris needs to win approximately 45 electoral votes across the seven swing states to claim the White House, while Trump would require around 51, factoring in the states they are projected to win comfortably. (Reporting by Steve Holland in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Nandita Bose in Detroit, Additional reporting by James Oliphant, Trevor Hunnicutt and Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
Source: Trump and Harris campaigns race to get the vote out on eve of US election