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A voter drops off a ballot at an official ballot drop box at the San Francisco City Hall voting center on the final day of early voting ahead of Election Day, on Monday, in San Francisco, California. (AFP-Yonhap) |
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump made their final pitch to court undecided voters and "get out the vote" on Monday, a day before the high-stakes general election that could reshape America's policy on its alliances, the economy, trade, and other key issues.
Vice President Harris and former President Trump held a series of final campaign events, particularly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is seen as a must-win battleground state with 19 electoral votes crucial for both candidates to win the presidency.
In their impassioned closing messages, they reiterated their contrasting visions for the nation and took last-minute jabs at each other, as voters are preparing to go to the polls on Tuesday to pick a successor to incumbent President Joe Biden.
"We are a people-driven campaign, and we love the people, and we see in the face of a stranger a neighbor. That's the spirit of what we are doing," Harris told a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, before she moved to a star-studded Philadelphia rally.
"You know this whole era of this other guy. ... What it's done with all that talk has been about trying to have us point fingers at each other and divide each other. It makes people feel alone. It makes them feel like there's nobody standing with them," she added, referring to Trump.
In a separate rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she reiterated her campaign's focus on democracy, insinuating that Trump is a danger to it.
"We are fighting for a democracy, which is why I say that I am not going to be a leader who thinks that people who disagree with me should be put into jail, that they are the enemy," she said. "I will give them a seat at the table because that's what real leaders do, and that's what strong leaders do."
Trump started Monday's schedule with a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, before joining events set to take place in Pennsylvania and Michigan. In the first event of the day, Trump stressed: "With our vote tomorrow, we're going to fire Kamala. We are going to save America."
"We are going to cut your taxes and inflation, slash your prices, raise your wages and bring thousands of factories back to America and back to North Carolina," he said.
"We will build American. We will buy American. We will hire American, and I will end the war in Ukraine. If I were president, (it) would have never started. In the Middle East, (the war) would have never started."
Trump also claimed that Harris would know he would do a "great" job on Election Day.
"Tomorrow, you have to stand up and tell Kamala that you've had enough," he said. "You are going to say you've done a terrible job, you're grossly incompetent, we are not going to take it anymore."
According to the latest survey from Emerson College Polling and The Hill released Monday, Trump is ahead in Arizona by 2 percentage points, Georgia by 1 percentage point, North Carolina by 1 percentage point, and Pennsylvania by 1 percentage point. Harris is leading in Michigan by 2 percentage points.
The two are tied in Nevada at 48 percent apiece and in Wisconsin at 49 percent apiece.
Their lead in any of the swing states is within the margin of error. The survey was conducted from Wednesday to Saturday.
Conducted between Oct. 24 and Saturday, The New York Times and Siena College poll found that Harris leads in Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, and Wisconsin, while Trump is ahead in Arizona. They are tied in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Before Election Day, more than 78 million Americans had already cast an early ballot, data from the University of Florida showed.
According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, roughly 244 million Americans are eligible to vote in 2024. If voter turnout is as high as that of the 2020 election at 66.6 percent, more than 162 million will cast ballots by Tuesday, the center said.
To occupy the Oval Office, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes out of the total 538 electors representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
It remains uncertain when the winner will be named. In the 2020 election that proceeded amid COVID-19, President Joe Biden's victory was announced four days after the vote. But the 2016 election was called for Trump in the wee hours of the morning after Election Day.
Observers said that given the dead heat between the two candidates, more time could be needed to get the election outcome. A razor-thin margin in a battleground state could trigger a recount of votes, and unprecedented missteps at polling stations or other unforeseen mishaps could delay the counting process, observers said.
The victor of this year's presidential race is to take office Jan. 20.
Also up for grabs in Tuesday's election are 34 Senate seats and all 435 House seats.
Currently, Democrats hold a slight majority in the Senate, controlling 51 seats with the help of three independents that caucus with the Democrats, while Republicans hold 49 seats. In the House, Republicans have a slim majority with 220 seats to Democrats' 212. (Yonhap)
