🇺🇸 USA Election 2024

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Sen. Graham on Harris: I'm not saying she's crazy, her policies are crazy

On "State of the Union," CNN's Jake Tapper speaks with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) about former President Donald Trump's latest rhetoric on Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/29/politics/video/graham-reacts-trump-harris-mentally-disabled-sotu-digvid

 

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Harris tries to turn the tables on Trump by embracing the border as a key issue​

By Eric Bradner, CNN
September 28, 2024

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris visits the US-Mexico border with US Border Patrol Tucson Sector Chief John Modlin, right, in Douglas, Arizona, on September 27, 2024.
Rebecca Noble/AFP/Getty Images CNN —

Vice President Kamala Harris made an aggressive move to cut into Donald Trump’s polling lead on immigration, traveling to the southern border for the first time as the Democratic nominee on Friday to lay out her plans to tackle what she described as a problem that has languished for decades.

Harris, during her trip to the key swing state of Arizona, lambasted Trump for his role earlier this year in tanking a border security bill that was the product of months of bipartisan negotiations.

It was one of Harris’ more specific policy speeches since becoming the Democratic nominee, attempting to use her past as California’s attorney general to prove that she has what it takes to attack Trump on his signature issue.

“It was the strongest border security bill we have seen in decades. It was endorsed by the Border Patrol union. And it should be in effect today, producing results in real time, right now, for our country,” she said at a rally in Douglas, a town on the US-Mexico border.

“But Donald Trump tanked it. He picked up the phone and called some friends in Congress and said, ‘Stop the bill,’” she said. “He prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. And the American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games and their personal political future.”

The former president responded to Harris’ border trip by amping up his own rhetoric on immigration. Highlighting violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, Trump told a crowd in Walker, Michigan, that Harris “delivered these horrors.”

“She unleashed these atrocities, and blood is on her hands at a level that, probably, nobody’s ever seen in this country,” he said.

Trump also falsely again accused Democrats of letting people enter the country illegally because “they want the votes.” Non-citizens cannot vote in US elections — a reality ignored by Trump, who for years has lied about widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

The Democratic offensive on immigration and border security is an attempt to cut into one of Trump’s clearest-cut political advantages. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS released this week found the former president is trusted by 49% of likely voters to handle immigration, while Harris is trusted by 35%.

Harris on Friday also laid out proposals to strengthen restrictions that have largely barred migrants from seeking asylum in the United States. And she said she would seek paths to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as children.

“They are American in every way. But still, they do not have an earned pathway to citizenship. And this problem has gone unsolved at this point now for decades,” Harris said.

 

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2024 race takes a backseat​

The battle over immigration and border security comes at a rare moment this late in a presidential race in which attention has shifted away from both parties’ nominees.

Dozens of people had been killed as Hurricane Helene swept across the Southeast, causing massive flooding. Meanwhile, Israel has escalated its battle with Hezbollah with a strike on a building in Lebanon that it said was storing missiles.

And both parties’ vice presidential nominees are preparing to take center stage next week, as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance meet for their one and only debate Tuesday night.

Fewer than six weeks from Election Day, the 2024 presidential map is still jumbled – with seven battleground states coming into focus.

A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS on Friday showed Harris with a comfortable lead for a single electoral college vote in Nebraska that could have outsized implications.

Nebraska awards one electoral college vote to the winner of each congressional district. The poll of the Omaha-based 2nd District found Harris leading in the state’s most liberal region, with 53% support to Trump’s 42%.

That single electoral vote could be critical if Harris sweeps the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but loses the four Sun Belt swing states – Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina. That could leave her with 269 electoral college votes – and one more from Nebraska could give her the 270 needed to win the White House.

Another CNN poll conducted by SSRS released Friday found the two candidates tied in North Carolina at 48% each. Trump faces limited paths to victory should he fail to hold North Carolina – the state where he earned his slimmest margin of victory in 2020. And the CNN poll found the scandal-plagued Republican nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, far behind his Democratic rival, as the party faces questions about whether Robinson could hurt the overall GOP ticket there in November.

 

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GOP highlights undocumented immigrants’ crime​

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee on Friday held a press call ahead of Harris’ Arizona visit featuring three mothers of those killed by undocumented immigrants or accidental fentanyl overdose who blamed the vice president for what they described as a lack of accountability on border security.

“This is not a safe time for Americans. Kamala Harris has not acknowledged my daughter’s death,” said Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, who was raped and killed by a 23-year-old citizen of El Salvador. Rachel Morin was a mother of five herself.

“She is late coming to the table on this. At any point, she could do something,” said southern California mother Anne Fundner, whose 15-year-old son Weston died from a fentanyl overdose.

The call was an effort to cast doubt on Harris’ proposals to tackle border security, as Trump argues that she and President Joe Biden have had four years to do so and have failed.

After a dramatic drop, border crossings are currently at the lowest they’ve been since 2020. US officials have touted back-to-back months of low border crossings, citing recent executive action to curb asylum access at the southern border.

Republicans have labeled Harris the Biden administration’s “border czar,” overstating the president’s more limited 2021 assignment for Harris to tackle the root causes of migration in Central America.

Harris on Friday sought to tap into another part of her resume: Her time as California attorney general. She highlighted efforts to prosecute members of transnational criminal organizations, including traveling to Mexico City with other attorneys general to share intelligence on gangs and cartels.

“Stopping transnational criminal organizations and strengthening our border is not new to me, and it is a long-standing priority of mine,” she said. “I have done that work, and I will continue to treat it as a priority.”

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Ali Main, Ariel Edwards-Levy and Kit Maher contributed to this report.

 

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US election polls: Who is ahead - Harris or Trump?​

the Visual Journalism and Data teams
BBC News

BBC
Voters in the US go to the polls on 5 November to elect their next president.

The election was initially a rematch of 2020 but it was upended in July when President Joe Biden ended his campaign and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The big question now is - will America get its first woman president or a second Donald Trump term?

As election day approaches, we'll be keeping track of the polls and seeing what effect the campaign has on the race for the White House.

Who is leading national polls?​

Harris has been ahead of Trump in the national polling averages since she entered the race at the end of July, as shown in the chart below with the latest figures rounded to the nearest whole number.


The two candidates went head to head in a televised debate in Pennsylvania on 10 September that just over 67 million people tuned in to watch.

A majority of national polls carried out in the week after suggested Harris's performance had helped her make some small gains, with her lead increasing from 2.5 percentage points on the day of the debate to 3.3 points just over a week later.

That marginal boost was mostly down to Trump’s numbers though. His average had been rising ahead of the debate, but it fell by half a percentage point in the week afterwards.

You can see those small changes in the poll tracker chart below, with the trend lines showing how the averages have changed and the dots showing the individual poll results for each candidate.


While these national polls are a useful guide as to how popular a candidate is across the country as a whole, they're not necessarily an accurate way to predict the result of the election.

That's because the US uses an electoral college system, in which each state is given a number of votes roughly in line with the size of its population. A total of 538 electoral college votes are up for grabs, so a candidate needs to hit 270 to win.

There are 50 states in the US but because most of them nearly always vote for the same party, in reality there are just a handful where both candidates stand a chance of winning. These are the places where the election will be won and lost and are known as battleground states or swing states.

Who is winning in swing state polls?​

Right now, the polls are very tight in the seven states considered battlegrounds in this election with just one or two percentage points separating the candidates.

That includes Pennsylvania, which is key as it has the highest number of electoral votes of the seven states and therefore winning it makes it easier to reach the 270 votes needed.

In a sign of how the race has changed since Harris became the Democratic nominee, on the day Biden quit the race he was trailing Trump by nearly five percentage points on average in these seven states.

 

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New General election poll - North Carolina

Trump 50% (+2)
Harris 48%

 

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VP debates rarely matter - the Walz v Vance showdown is different​

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent•

Getty Images

Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance will meet for their one and only vice-presidential debate on Tuesday night in New York City.

While the stakes in these kind of running-mate face-offs are typically low – an undercard to the presidential main event - this one might be different.

In a tight race that could be decided by tens of thousands of votes in a handful of states, every opportunity to generate positive attention and political momentum is precious.

At the very least, the debate will be a fascinating contrast between two men with very different styles and political beliefs and two campaigns with distinct strategies for winning the White House.

Donald Trump announced his selection of Vance back in July, at the start of the Republican National Convention and just a day after his near-assassination.

The former president was riding high in the polls, and his pick of the 40-year-old Ohio senator was viewed not only as a play to the white working class in the industrial Midwest – a key demographic in a region that is a top electoral battleground – but also as a way to establish his political legacy.

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Who is JD Vance?​

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Unlike Trump’s first vice-president, Mike Pence, Vance is an ideological kindred spirit, whose focus on trade and immigration match Trump’s top political priorities.

If Vance was a front-runner to be Trump’s running-mate, Walz’s path to the Democratic number-two spot was considerably more unlikely. After Joe Biden abandoned his re-election bid, Vice-President Kamala Harris stepped in as the standard bearer and shortly thereafter began her ticket-mate search.

Walz, the governor of Minnesota, was not a leading contender for the job, but his viral appearances on television, deriding Republicans as “weird”, and his ability to defend liberal policies in moderate-friendly language won Harris over.
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Vance sells Trump’s message to disaffected America​

On the campaign trail, both men have sought to put the political skills that earned them the running-mate jobs to work.

Vance is polished and practised – a former Silicon Valley venture capitalist with an Ivy League pedigree that belies his rural Appalachian roots. Walz is a high-school teacher turned politician with a penchant for folksy Midwestern humour.

Vance has been a frequent advocate for the Trump campaign on mainstream media news programmes. He’s also rallied potential supporters in rural areas of the Midwestern battleground states, part of the Trump campaign’s strategy of engaging sympathetic voters who may not have participated in previous elections.

Last week in Traverse City, Michigan, Vance gave his standard stump speech, which is focused on immigration, the economy and trade.

“We’re going to pursue some commonsense tax and economic policies,” he told the crowd of a few thousand cheering supporters gathered in a local fair ground. “We will do it with American workers rather than foreign slave labourers.”

While many of the rally attendees didn’t know much about Vance prior to his selection as candidate for vice-president, they said they liked what they had heard so far - even as Vance has frequently flirted with controversy. His amplification of untrue rumours that Haitian migrants were stealing and eating pets in Ohio is a recent example.

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Walz appeals to voters Harris struggles to reach​

The Democrat has been a regular fixture in more rural areas of the battleground states - often appearing in places that are traditionally more conservative. As a former high school football coach, he’s sought to play up his background and links to America’s most popular sport. On Saturday, he was at the Michigan-Minnesota college football game which was played in front of a crowd of 110,000.

When Harris introduced Walz as her vice-presidential pick at a Philadelphia rally in early August, she repeatedly referred to him as “Coach Walz” - and highlighted his high-school teacher background.

The Democrats may be hoping his plainspoken, salt-of-the-earth appeal could cut into the Republican margins outside major metropolitan areas.

“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbours and their personal choices that they make," Walz said in Philadelphia. “Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: Mind your own damn business.”

 

[Sharma Ji]

kamla devi slept her way to the top

she disgusting

 

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CNN Instant Poll: No clear winner in VP debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance​

By Ariel Edwards-Levy and Jennifer Agiesta, CNN
October 2, 2024

Registered voters who watched Tuesday’s debate between vice presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance were closely divided over which candidate did the better job, according to a CNN instant poll of debate watchers conducted by SSRS, and the event left viewers with more positive views of both candidates than they held pre-debate.

Among debate watchers, Walz remains the candidate who’s seen more positively and as more in touch with their needs and vision for the country. Vance, who suffers from more of an image deficit among both viewers and the public at large, boosted his standing among the debate audience, outperforming expectations and gaining ground on the share who perceive him as qualified. He was also narrowly seen as doing a better job than Walz of defending his running mate. Both men, the poll finds, are viewed by a majority of debate watchers as qualified to assume the presidency if needed. And practically none of the voters who tuned in saw the debate as a reason to change their votes.

Following the debate, 51% of viewers said that Vance did the better job, with 49% picking Walz. In a survey conducted of the same voters prior to the debate, Walz held the advantage as the candidate they expected to perform more strongly, 54% to 45%.

 

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Middle East conflict has added to "heightened threat environment" in US ahead of election, DHS official says​

From CNN's Holmes Lybrand

The threat environment in the United States “remains high” ahead of the November presidential election and conflict in the Middle East, according to a new assessment by the Department of Homeland Security.

The annual assessment released Wednesday warns of possible threats from violent extremists driven by the heated political environment in the US as well as foreign and domestic threats from terrorist groups and others inspired by conflicts abroad. It also comes amid a wider conflict in the Middle East after Israel assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and began a ground offensive in Lebanon. Iran retaliated on Tuesday by launching nearly 200 missiles at Israel.

A senior DHS official told reporters Wednesday that the department is still working to figure out what Iran’s escalatory attack on Israel in recent days could mean for US security.

“It’s of course true that events in the Middle East over the last 12 months have contributed to this heightened threat environment and continue to do so, and we’re in a constant effort to evaluate and monitor what’s happening abroad to determine what implications it has for here in the homeland,” the official said.

The official also noted that the attack from Iran, paired with the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel last year, could “drive particular violent extremists here in the homeland to accelerate or look to take action on a timeline that may not have been anticipated.”

“We are literally in the earliest days of trying to understand what exactly Iranian intentions might be,” the official said.

Some of those intentions of Iran and other countries, according to officials and the report itself, are to sow confusion and chaos in the US 2024 presidential election.

 

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The sentiment behind the words Americans used to describe what they’d heard about Harris remained more positive than the words they used to describe the news about Trump. This doesn’t mean that they expressed warmer feelings about her personally but that what they said about her tended to be framed in relatively positive terms and tone.

However, the gap in sentiments about the two candidates was significantly smaller than it was last week in the wake of the debate. The tone of responses relating to Harris were slightly more negative than positive, bringing her sentiment number roughly in line with where it was prior to the debate, while Trump’s remained in negative territory.

 

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October surprises are piling up, but a toss-up race seems impervious to shocks​

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
October 3, 2024


October surprises are coming at a dizzying pace. But the question is whether grave crises at home and abroad can break a dead heat between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in an election that’s already been marked by huge turmoil.

The White House is grappling with three challenges that could threaten the vice president’s hopes and offer an opening to the Republican nominee’s narrative of Biden-era negligence. A month before Election Day, the US faces the grave possibility of being dragged into a Middle East conflagration; a port workers’ strike could harm inflation-weary consumers; and political pressure is rising in the fallout of Hurricane Helene.

Trump, meanwhile, was hit on Wednesday by the unsealing of a 165-page document in which special counsel Jack Smith gives the fullest picture of his case in the federal 2020 election interference case. The ex-president has pleaded not guilty, but the filing re-injected his attempt to steal the last election into the frantic endgame of a campaign partially shaped by Democrats’ claims he poses an existential threat to American democracy.

Each situation highlights potential vulnerabilities for both candidates as voters make up their minds. The trio of tests facing Harris comes with potential economic, political and humanitarian consequences if the administration errs. And the new scrutiny of Trump’s behavior after the 2020 election could cause some voters to again question his fitness for the Oval Office.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at Dane Manufacturing in Waunakee, Wisconsin, October 1, 2024.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images

 

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Trump’s election meddling thrust back into 2024 race​

One of the most bewildering aspects of the 2024 election is that a former president accused of trying to overthrow the previous election has an even chance of winning this one.

The depth of Trump’s alleged election stealing plot was laid bare in Smith’s filing, which said that he “extensively used private actors and his campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results.” Smith, trying to get around this summer’s Supreme Court ruling that granted presidents substantial immunity for official acts, added that Trump “operated in a private capacity as a candidate for office.”

In one of the most damning parts of the filing, Smith said he had evidence that showed the then-president told family members, “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.”

Trump has falsely claimed that all his legal exposure proves that the Biden administration has weaponized justice against him to meddle in this election. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung claimed that “President Trump is dominating, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are freaking out.”

Trump has also forced fellow Republicans to adopt his false claims of fraud in 2020. In the vice presidential debate on Tuesday, his running mate JD Vance couldn’t bring himself to publicly say his boss lost the last election.

While Republican voters seem willing to buy into Trump’s false narrative, it remains unclear how deeply events four years ago still weigh on the minds of swing-state voters and how much, if at all, Smith’s unsealed document will shape the race.

Vice President Kamala Harris walks with Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson as they survey the damage from Hurricane Helene, in the Meadowbrook neighborhood of Augusta, Georgia, on October 2, 2024.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Events threaten to conspire against Harris​

The greatest vulnerability for Harris may lie in a sense the post-pandemic normality that Joe Biden pledged to restore in 2020 is still unrealized, while Republicans make a case that Democratic leadership is outmatched by cascading events at home and abroad.

A long-dreaded war between Iran and Israel could force the United States into fighting with Tehran after more than four decades of proxy antagonism and put Americans in harm’s way. Any consequent energy crisis could send gas prices soaring and shatter Harris’ economic credentials. The port stoppage is pulling the administration between its support for unionized labor and an imperative to prevent supermarket shortages and hiked prices. Meanwhile, Helene is the second deadliest hurricane to strike the US mainland in the past 50 years, following Katrina in 2005, which became a symbol of how mismanaged natural disasters can create political cataclysms.

“Look at the World today — Look at the missiles flying right now in the Middle East, look at what’s happening with Russia/Ukraine, look at Inflation destroying the World. NONE OF THIS HAPPENED WHILE I WAS PRESIDENT!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. His argument ignores the daily chaos that raged when he was in office. But unlike in 2020, amid his botched handling of the Covid-19 crisis, Trump is not an incumbent and his post could be a crisp election argument against the current administration. Proliferating crises also allow Trump to revive one of the key themes of his campaign – that he offers strength and Harris and Biden are weak.

Each of the problems looming over the White House race might qualify for the cliche October surprise. Yet their impact is hard to assess since this campaign’s many twists have yet to have a decisive impact. Trump has, for example, been convicted of a crime and escaped two assassination attempts. An incumbent president running for reelection abandoned his campaign a few months before Election Day.

Still, after the vice presidential debate on Tuesday night, there are now no scheduled set-piece occasions that offer the prospect of a major twist in the campaign. That means effectively navigating the crises that do arise could become even more vital.

Any development could in theory take on outsize significance among the perhaps several hundred thousand voters in a handful of swing states that will decide this election. Harris has a narrow lead in some national polls, but most swing state surveys show no clear leader and margins within sampling errors.

 

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US election 2024: A really simple guide to the presidential vote​

BBC

Americans will head to the polls in November to elect the next US president. The vote will be closely watched around the world.

They will also be voting for members of Congress, who play a key part in passing laws that can have a profound effect on American life.

When is the US presidential election?​

The 2024 election is on Tuesday, 5 November 2024. The winner will serve a term of four years in the White House, starting in January 2025.

The president has the power to pass some laws on their own but mostly he or she must work with Congress to pass legislation.

On the world stage, the US leader has considerable freedom to represent the country abroad and to conduct foreign policy.

Who are the candidates and how are they nominated?​

The two main parties nominate a presidential candidate by holding a series of votes called state primaries and caucuses, where people choose who they want to lead the party in a general election.

In the Republican Party, former president Donald Trump won his party's support with a massive lead over his rivals. He became the official Republican nominee at a party convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Trump chose Ohio senator JD Vance to be his vice-presidential running mate.

For the Democrats, Vice-President Kamala Harris joined the race after President Joe Biden dropped out and no other Democrats stood against her. Her running mate is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

There are also some independent candidates running for president.

One of the most prominent was Robert F Kennedy Jr, nephew to former president John F Kennedy, but he suspended his campaign in late August and has endorsed Trump.

What do Democrats and Republicans stand for?​

The Democrats are the liberal political party, with an agenda defined largely by its push for civil rights, a broad social safety net and measures to address climate change.

The Republicans are the conservative political party in the US. Also known as the GOP, or the Grand Old Party, it has stood for lower taxes, shrinking the size of the government, gun rights and tighter restrictions on immigration and abortion.

 

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How does the US presidential election work?​

The winner is not the person who gets the most votes across the country. Instead, both candidates compete to win contests held across the 50 states.

Each state has a certain number of so-called electoral college votes partly based on population. There are a total of 538 up for grabs, and the winner is the candidate that wins 270 or more.

All but two states have a winner-takes-all rule, so whichever candidate wins the highest number of votes is awarded all of the state's electoral college votes.

Most states lean heavily towards one party or the other, so the focus is usually on a dozen or so states where either of them could win. These are known as the battleground or swing states.

It is possible for a candidate to win the most votes nationally - like Hillary Clinton did in 2016 - but still be defeated by the electoral college.

Who can vote in the US presidential election?​

Most US citizens who are aged 18 or over are eligible to vote in the presidential election.

Every state except North Dakota requires people to register before they can vote.

Each state has its own voter registration process and deadline.

US citizens who live abroad can register to vote and request an absentee postal ballot by completing the Federal Post Card Application (FCPA).

Who else is being elected in November?​

All of the attention will be on who wins the presidency, but voters will also be choosing new members of Congress - where laws are passed - when they fill in their ballots.

Congress consists of the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats are up for election, and the Senate, where 34 seats are being contested.

Republicans currently control the House, which initiates spending plans. Democrats are in charge of the Senate, which votes on key appointments in government.

These two chambers pass laws and can act as a check on White House plans if the controlling party in either chamber disagrees with the president.

When will we know who has won the election?​

Usually the winner is declared on the night of the election, but in 2020 it took a few days to count all the votes.

The period after the election is know as the transition, if there is a change of president.

This gives the new administration time to appoint cabinet ministers and make plans for the new term.

The president is officially sworn into office in January in a ceremony known as the inauguration, held on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC.

 

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Jan. 6 thrust back into the spotlight in final election days​

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
October 4, 2024

Donald Trump’s attempt to unravel American democracy to stay in power four years ago is suddenly back at the epicenter of another election — weeks before the ex-president could pull off a stunning White House comeback.

Special counsel Jack Smith and former Rep. Liz Cheney have thrust the issue of the GOP nominee’s false 2020 fraud claims into the endgame of Trump’s neck-and-neck showdown with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, while reviving memories of a day that will stain American history.

Appearing with Harris in Wisconsin on Thursday, Cheney presented herself as part of a bipartisan movement to block Trump from the White House. But four years on, the mob assault by Trump supporters on the US Capitol, the ex-president’s attempt to subvert a free and fair vote, and his incessant efforts to fracture trust in the US democratic system may not impede his return to power.

This is a reality that reflects both the divided state of the nation and the GOP’s willingness to prioritize power. But most of all, it’s a testimony to the often-malevolent magnetism that has made Trump a historic and enduring political figure.

Cheney, a hardline conservative, appeared with the vice president in the critical battleground to urge independents and Trump-wary Republicans to vote for the Democrat despite their sharp differences on policy.

“The most conservative of conservative values is fidelity to our Constitution,” Cheney said in Ripon, Wisconsin. “As we meet here today, our republic faces a threat unlike any we have faced before.” She added: “In this election, putting patriotism ahead of partisanship is not an aspiration – it is our duty.”

“What January 6 shows us is that there is not an ounce, not an ounce of compassion in Donald Trump. He is petty, he is vindictive, and he is cruel, and Donald Trump is not fit to lead this good and great nation.”

It was a remarkable scene, which was only made possible by the political earthquake unleashed by Trump’s conduct four years ago. A sign of how much things have changed in American politics: Cheney’s father, former vice president Dick Cheney — who was reviled by Democrats, especially over the Iraq War — has also endorsed Harris. His daughter declared: “I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”

The former Wyoming congresswoman lost her leadership position in the House GOP and eventually her seat in a landslide to a primary challenger, after standing up to Trump’s attempt to defy the will of voters in 2020. And while she was still in the House, she helped lead a bipartisan special committee that recommended criminal charges for the twice-impeached ex-president over the January 6, 2021, riot. In Wisconsin, a state that could be decided by narrow margins next month, Cheney could have a big impact if she’s able to move even a few hundred votes.

 

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Next week, Cheney and former Trump White House aides Alyssa Farah Griffin, Cassidy Hutchinson and Sarah Matthews will make the case against Trump in a fireside chat in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, CNN has exclusively learned.

Harris on Thursday praised Cheney’s courage — and vowed, “Anyone who has called for, I quote, the termination of the Constitution of the United States, as Donald Trump has, must never again stand, never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States.”

The ex-president responded to Cheney’s appearance with a post on his Truth Social network that was filled with personal insults. But Trump’s comments also underscored the populist transformation of the Republican Party that he wrought after more than a decade of draining overseas wars that put a heavy burden on service personnel from many of the heartland states where he draws his strongest support. The Republican nominee blasted Cheney as a war hawk and slammed her father as the leader of “our ridiculous journey into the Middle East, where Trillions of Dollars were spent, millions of people were killed - and for what? Nothing!”

How relatively small numbers of up-for-grabs swing state voters process the issues behind the comments by Cheney and Trump — and weigh them in relation to other top concerns like the economy and high grocery prices — could factor into the wider question of who wins the election

 

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Cheney’s appearance came after Smith was back in the spotlight Wednesday, with an unsealed court filing offering the most detailed view yet of his federal election interference case against Trump, who has thwarted attempts to bring him to trial before the election.

The special counsel alleged that Trump told family members, “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.” The filing represents an attempt by Smith to save a case that was seriously damaged by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which granted Trump and other ex-presidents wide immunity for acts in office.

 

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Uncertain political fallout from the new focus on January 6​

New focus on Trump’s refusal to accept the result of the last election and the January 6 attack on the Capitol might seem like a political disaster for the ex-president. But it’s a mark of Trump’s success in rewriting history that this is not necessarily an election-defining issue.

When Trump left Washington in January 2021, without attending Joe Biden’s inauguration and with the city divided by iron security fences, it would have been absurd to think that he could have a strong chance of returning to power in a non-consecutive second term.

His prospects next month show that while he horrifies many Americans, his conduct after the last election is not seen as disqualifying by millions of others. Trump has countered claims by opponents that he represents a grave peril to the Constitution by arguing that Biden and Harris are the real threat and has blamed their rhetoric for two assassination attempts against him. “I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me,” Trump said at his debate with Harris last month. “They talk about democracy. I’m a threat to democracy. They’re the threat to democracy.”

Trump’s hold on the Republican base has also allowed him to browbeat most party leaders into supporting him and joining his effort to whitewash his conduct after the last election. He’s also again raising doubts about the integrity of the election system as early voting begins this year to hedge against another possible defeat.

 

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Trump’s success in convincing Republicans that he was the victim of political persecution helped him sail through the Republican primary. And the prospect of another Democratic president is even papering over some of the deepest Republican scars remaining from 2020. On Friday, for instance, the ex-president is set to appear with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in the swing state for a briefing on Hurricane Helene. Trump has spent years vilifying Kemp for failing to join his attempt to overturn Biden’s win there.

 

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New fears that Trump threatens democracy​

The possibility of a Trump return to power is especially ominous for many Americans because he has vowed to wage a second term of “retribution” and is threatening to jail his political opponents.

Yet Trump’s strongman instincts are exactly what makes him attractive to many Republican voters whom he has convinced the Biden administration has weaponized justice against him. There is no evidence to support Trump’s claims, even if some of the prosecutors in several of his criminal and civil cases, notably in Georgia and New York, were political figures who previously criticized the former president. Still, all of Trump’s criminal charges emerged from grand juries or genuine legal processes. And he was judged by a jury of his peers, like any other citizen, when convicted in a Manhattan trial arising from a hush money payment to an adult film actress.

As well as the federal election case, the ex-president is facing a similar one in Georgia based on racketeering statutes. A Trump-appointed judge threw out another Smith prosecution — over Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Florida club — although the special counsel is appealing her decision.

 

[Ghazi52]

Smith details a devastating story – but Trump has so far forestalled a trial​

In his latest filing to district court in Washington, Smith accused the ex-president of trying to overturn legitimate election results in seven states that he lost. The former president, who has pleaded not guilty in this and all criminal cases against him, is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

 

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Legal expert says one quote from Jack Smith in filing sums up his case against Trump
02:19 - Source: CNN

In such a toxic political environment, the special counsel was bound to encounter claims he was motivated by partisanship since, despite his nominal independence, he operates under the auspices of Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland. But a failure to prosecute the ex-president, who escaped political accountability when Republican senators declined to convict him in his second impeachment trial, would have created a precedent that might convince a future president to try to ignore an election loss.

 

[Ghazi52]

While Smith must still convince a jury that Trump broke the law, the historic facts are not in dispute.

The former president refused to accept the result of the 2020 election that he lost. His cases alleging fraud — often lacking evidence — were thrown out by multiple judges and even by the Supreme Court. He called a crowd to Washington and incited his supporters, who smashed their way into the Capitol and beat up police officers. The former president has hailed those who tried to block the electoral certification as heroes and has pledged to pardon them if he returns to power. His actions did not just represent a threat to the sacred American principle of peaceful transfers of power between presidents. They shattered trust among millions of Americans in the legal and electoral system.

 

[Ghazi52]

Biden made Trump’s threat to democracy the centerpiece of his now-shelved run for president, warning that his predecessor represents an unprecedented threat to America’s soul. But Harris, while warning of the dangers of Trump, has sought to focus primarily on the generational change she offers.

Her tactics are an acknowledgment that there are many other issues — including high grocery prices, the cost of housing, and the price of childcare — that occupy the minds of voters’ as much as somewhat intangible warnings of democracy on the brink.

In a CNN/SSRS poll in September, about 4 in 10 likely voters said the economy was the most important issue as they choose a candidate. Protecting democracy was second at 21%, immigration was at 12% and abortion was at 11%. Harris’ voters were more likely than others to choose protecting democracy as most important (37%) over the economy (21%).

Therefore, while the scenes on January 6, 2021, were horrifying, four years on they are not the dominant issue.

 

[Ghazi52]

Democrats lead in September advertising for House races as California and New York dominate​

From CNN's David Wright

Democrats outspent Republicans on advertising by a combined total of more than $31 million across 20 of the most competitive US House races in September, ad data shows, and held the edge in 17 of those contests.

Each of the races drew between about $5 to $10 million in ad spending during the month, with two toss-up contests in Alaska and Pennsylvania topping $10 million, according to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact.

 

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The list of 20 races that saw the most ad spending last month stretches across the country, with five states hosting a pair of top contests, including California, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona.

And overall, including races not on the top 20 list, California and New York are dominating the House map – those two states accounted for nearly a quarter of all ad spending in House races in September (24%).

Counting all US House races, California saw more than $30 million worth of ad spending in the month, while New York saw $28.5 million. Pennsylvania ($20 million), Michigan ($17 million) and Arizona ($13 million) were also bombarded with ads.

Across the country, the parties combined for a total of about $245 million spent on advertising for House races in September – including all advertisers, campaigns and outside groups, from both parties – and Democrats led Republicans by about $153 million to $91 million.

 

[Ghazi52]

Biden says he and Harris are aligned and in constant contact​

From CNN's Nikki Carvajal

President Joe Biden, standing with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, speaks during a surprise appearance to take questions during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on Friday.

Susan Walsh/AP


President Joe Biden said he’s “singing from the same song sheet” as Vice President Kamala Harris as his administration deals with multiple crises on the domestic and international levels.

“I’m in constant contact with her,” he said while answering questions in the White House briefing room for the first time as president on Friday. “She’s aware … we’re singing from the same song sheet.”

He told reporters Harris “helped pass all the laws that are being employed now.”

“She was a major player in everything we’ve done, including the passage of legislation which we were told we could never pass,” Biden said. “She’s been, and her staff is interlocked with mine in terms of all the things we’re doing.”

Biden also joked that he was getting back into the presidential race

Asked if he wanted to reconsider dropping out of the race, Biden paused and turned around as he was walking out of the room.

“I’m back in!” he said with a smile.

 

[Ghazi52]

Biden on election outcome: "I'm confident it'll be free and fair; I don't know whether it will be peaceful"​

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on October 4 in Washington, DC.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

President Joe Biden made a surprise appearance at the podium during the White House news briefing, where he answered a question on the upcoming November election.

A reporter asked Biden: “I’d like to know how you’re feeling about how this election is going. And then also, do you have confidence that it will be a free and fair election and that it will be peaceful?”

Biden responded: “Two separate questions. I’m confident it’ll be free and fair; I don’t know whether it will be peaceful.”

“The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out, when he didn’t like the outcome of the election, were very dangerous,” he continued.

Biden also referred to a moment during the vice presidential debate this week, when GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance was put on the spot by Democratic running mate Tim Walz during a discussion of the January 6, 2021, insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election.

 

[Ghazi52]

Harris plans to hit Trump and Vance for not committing to keep funding for auto plants​

From CNN's Aaron Pellish, Eva McKend and Ali Main

An employee installs components on a vehicle at the General Motors Co. Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant in Lansing, Michigan, in February 2020.

Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Vice President Kamala Harris will hit Ohio Sen. JD Vance for refusing to commit to continuing federal support for a General Motors plant in Lansing, Michigan, during her remarks in Flint, Michigan on Friday, a senior campaign official told CNN.

 

[Ghazi52]

On Wednesday, Vance was asked by reporters at an event whether former president Donald Trump would continue funding a $500 million federal grant approved by the Biden administration for GM’s Lansing Grand River Plant. The grant came as part of funding approved by Biden to incentivize automobile manufacturers to invest in electric vehicles as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed after a tie-breaking vote from Harris.

“The $500 million grant came along with some really ridiculous strings and no protections for American jobs not getting shipped to foreign countries, because a lot– of not just the cars themselves, but the battery components, the minerals, this stuff is all produced in China,” Vance said at an event in Marne, Michigan, on Wednesday.

“And so when we write massive checks on American taxpayer expense to these companies, a lot of times, what we’re doing is selling American middle class jobs to the Communist Chinese, and we ought to be doing exactly the opposite,” he said.

 

[Ghazi52]

Magic Johnson will speak at Harris event in Flint, Michigan​

From CNN's Aaron Pellish and Eva McKend

Magic Johnson at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in February 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images


NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson will speak at Vice President Kamala Harris’ event in Flint, Michigan, on Friday, organizers at the event told CNN.

Johnson, a native of Lansing, Michigan, has previously endorsed Harris and joined the leadership of multiple outreach coalitions for the Harris campaign, including “Athletes for Harris” and “Business Leaders for Harris.”

 

[Ghazi52]

Harris highlights labor record at firehouse after firefighters union declines to endorse​

From CNN's Ali Main

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during a campaign event at a fire station in Redford Charter Township, Michigan, on Friday, October 4.

Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters


Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday highlighted her record on labor issues, contrasting it with former President Donald Trump’s, while visiting a fire department near Detroit, just after a major firefighters’ union declined to endorse either candidate.

Harris said the profession is “personal” for her, as her brother-in-law just retired from his firefighter job in California, continuing, “I know what you guys do, and I know your character, I know your families. I know what it means for the whole community, for you all to take on the lives that you have decided to live. And I’m so thankful you guys work long shifts with unpredictable hours, some of the most dangerous conditions.”

The vice president told the firefighters she was “thankful for the union that supports you and your right all that you deserve,” also expressing gratitude to other labor unions represented at the event at the Redford Township Fire Department in Michigan.

 

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The president of the International Association of Firefighters announced on Thursday the group decided not to endorse a presidential candidate this election cycle in an effort to “preserve and strengthen” unity, after previously backing President Joe Biden in 2020.

Harris also commented on the tentative deal reached between dockworkers and management that allowed members of the International Longshoremen’s Association to resume work on Friday after being on strike, calling it “another example of the power of collective bargaining.”

 

[Ghazi52]

‘Bullet for democracy’: Trump to return to site of rally shooting​

AFP
October 5, 2024

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump looks on during a town hall event at the Crown Complex in Fayetteville, North Carolina on October 4. — AFP
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaMc238IiRov8okfYy3n
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will make a defiant return on Saturday to the small town in Pennsylvania where an assassin tried to shoot him dead during a rally attended by thousands of supporters.

The former president will appear alongside JD Vance, his running mate in the November election, as well as family members of those hurt in the July 13 attack, first responders and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Trump has repeatedly insisted on returning to the site of the shooting, in which one man was killed and two attendees were wounded before the sniper was shot dead.

“Butler has become quite a famous place — it’s like a monument now,” the Republican candidate said at a recent rally in Milwaukee. Trump’s campaign said “he took a bullet for democracy” in Butler, and that he would speak behind protective glass on his return.

ukee.

 

[Ghazi52]

The former president was six minutes into a campaign speech in a scorching field and turning his head to look at a chart of immigration statistics, when eight shots rang out. Trump winced and grabbed his ear, ducking down behind his podium as Secret Service agents flooded the open-air stage.

Surrounded by bodyguards and with blood trickling across his face, Trump raised his fist and shouted “fight, fight, fight” to the crowd — providing his campaign with a now iconic image.

“The first thing I said is, ‘How many people are dead?’ Because, you know, we had a massive crowd. As far as the eye could see,” Trump said recently.

In fact, his first words, captured by the stage microphone, were “Let me get my shoes,” corroborated by witness Erin Autenreith, who was sitting in the first row.

There was shock across the political spectrum and President Joe Biden joined a host of world leaders in reaching out to Trump to wish him well.

The shooting prompted calls from all sides to lower the temperature of an overheated campaign — but the pause was short, and tensions simmered.

Though his ear was apparently grazed by one of the bullets fired by Thomas Crooks from an AR-15 type rifle, Trump emerged otherwise unscathed.

The Secret Service — charged with protecting presidents, candidates and foreign dignitaries — came in for withering criticism for failing to secure the building from where the shots were fired, just a few hundred feet away from the stage.

The attempt on the business mogul’s life was the first of a string of dramas that has shaken up the White House race, capped by Biden’s shock withdrawal and replacement by Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate.

Then on September 15, a man was apprehended after being seen at Trump’s Florida golf course wielding a rifle and a GoPro camera in what the FBI said was a second assassination attempt.

 

[Ghazi52]

Some Trump followers have alleged wild conspiracy theories and, along with Trump, have argued that Democratic rhetoric about the former president being a threat to US democracy was effectively an incitement to violence.

Merchandise sellers at Trump rallies did not skip a beat, creating T-shirts and collectables marking his apparently miraculous escape.

The gunfire at Butler killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore, a fire chief who authorities said died protecting family members. Two other bystanders were hit, suffering injuries.

“We’re going to be there on Saturday. It’s going to be a really big event, and it’s going to be something. We’ll celebrate the life of Corey, I think. And I want to celebrate the two gentlemen that got hit really bad,” Trump said in Milwa

 

[Ghazi52]

US election polls: Who is ahead - Harris or Trump?​

the Visual Journalism and Data teams
BBC News

BBC
Voters in the US go to the polls on 5 November to elect their next president.

The election was initially a rematch of 2020 but it was upended in July when President Joe Biden ended his campaign and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The big question now is - will America get its first woman president or a second Donald Trump term?

As election day approaches, we'll be keeping track of the polls and seeing what effect the campaign has on the race for the White House.

Harris has been ahead of Trump in the national polling averages since she entered the race at the end of July, as shown in the chart below with the latest figures rounded to the nearest whole number.

The two candidates went head to head in a televised debate in Pennsylvania on 10 September that just over 67 million people tuned in to watch.

 

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You can see those small changes in the poll tracker chart below, with the trend lines showing how the averages have changed and the dots showing the individual poll results for each candidate.

While these national polls are a useful guide as to how popular a candidate is across the country as a whole, they're not necessarily an accurate way to predict the result of the election.

That's because the US uses an electoral college system, in which each state is given a number of votes roughly in line with the size of its population. A total of 538 electoral college votes are up for grabs, so a candidate needs to hit 270 to win.

There are 50 states in the US but because most of them nearly always vote for the same party, in reality there are just a handful where both candidates stand a chance of winning. These are the places where the election will be won and lost and are known as battleground states or swing states.

 

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How are these averages created?​

The figures we have used in the graphics above are averages created by polling analysis website 538, which is part of American news network ABC News. To create them, 538 collects the data from individual polls carried out both nationally and in battleground states by lots of polling companies.

As part of its quality control, 538 only includes polls from companies that meet certain criteria, like being transparent about how many people they polled, when the poll was carried out and how the poll was conducted (telephone calls, text message, online, etc).

You can read more about the 538 methodology here.

Can we trust the polls?​

At the moment, the polls suggest that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are within a couple of percentage points of each other in swing states - and when the race is that close, it’s very hard to predict winners.

Polls underestimated support for Trump in both 2016 and 2020. Polling companies will be trying to fix that problem in a number of ways, including how to make their results reflect the make-up of the voting population.

Those adjustments are difficult to get right and pollsters still have to make educated guesses about other factors like who will actually turn up to vote on 5 November.
Written and produced by Mike Hills and Libby Rogers. Design by Joy Roxas.

 

[Ghazi52]

Biden: 'I don't know' if Netanyahu is trying to sway US election​

Gareth Evans BBC News, Washington

'I don't know - Biden on whether Netanyahu is attempting to sway election
President Joe Biden has said he is unsure whether Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding off on agreeing a Gaza ceasefire deal in order to influence next month's US election.

He was asked the question during a surprise appearance at a White House press briefing on Friday, telling reporters: "Whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know - but I’m not counting on that.”

Biden then directed some terse words at his longtime ally: “No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None, none, none," he said. "And I think [Netanyahu] should remember that."

Some Democrats have voiced concern that Netanyahu is ignoring the US president's calls to negotiate a ceasefire and hostage release deal in order to harm the party's chances in November.

Earlier this week, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN: “I don’t think you have to be a hopeless cynic to read some of Israel’s actions, some of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions, as connected to the American election."

Polls suggest the escalating violence in the Middle East and the failure to secure a diplomatic agreement is hurting Biden and his replacement as the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris.

 

[Ghazi52]

Trump and Harris are deadlocked - could an October surprise change the game?​

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent•@awzurcher

Reuters

With one month to election day, the contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is the electoral equivalent of a bare-knuckle brawl.

The race for the White House still appears deadlocked, both nationally and in battleground states, so victory will be decided by the slimmest of margins - every new voter engaged, every undecided voter swayed, could help land a knock-out punch.

“In any super close race, where the electorate is divided down the middle, a difference of a percentage point or two could be decisive,” says David Greenberg, a presidential historian at Rutgers University.

While party strategists are focused on how to earn that decisive edge, it could just as easily be an event out of their control, an unexpected twist, that upends the campaign in the final weeks.

It’s already been a year of political shockwaves - from one candidate surviving two assassination attempts and being convicted of a crime, to another, President Joe Biden, dropping out of the race in favour of his much younger vice-president.

However, when the surprises drop in October - think Trump’s Access Hollywood tape or Hillary Clinton’s emails in 2016 - there is scarcely time left to recover or regain momentum after a misstep or bad news cycle.

This week alone, there were several new rumbles that could turn into political storms by 5 November.

Helene’s political fallout​

Getty Images

North Carolina, which has been devastated by Hurricane Helene, is a must-win state for Trump

The first potential political storm was a literal one. Hurricane Helene tore through two key electoral battlegrounds last week, Georgia and North Carolina. Because of the intense focus on both states during this presidential race, a humanitarian disaster, with a death toll already over 200, has also become a political issue.

Harris pledged long-term aid to the region at a stop in Georgia earlier this week, and visited those affected by the storm in North Carolina on Saturday.

"We're here for the long haul," she said in Georgia.

Meanwhile, both states are essentially must-wins for Trump, and polls show a dead heat. While visiting Georgia, the former president claimed that Americans were losing out on emergency relief money because it had been spent on migrants. In fact, the two distinct programmes have separate budgets, and the Biden administration accused Republicans of spreading "bold-faced lies" about funding for the disaster response.

When disaster strikes, it's not easy for the government to keep everyone happy. If Trump’s attacks land, any voter dissatisfaction with recovery efforts could potentially impact the result in two of the most closely-watched states in the country.

Escalation in the Middle East​

Thousands of miles from the disaster-ravaged American southeast, a manmade crisis continues to inject itself into American politics. The Gaza war is in danger of expanding into a regional conflagration, as Israeli forces fought Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and Iran launched hundreds of missiles at Israel earlier this week.

While Harris has presented herself as a candidate of change, she put no distance between herself and the current administration when it comes to US-Israeli policies. That comes with risks.

Hopes for any kind of pre-election ceasefire in Gaza appear firmly dashed, and the White House at this point is trying to ensure that the inevitable Israeli response to Tuesday’s Iranian strike doesn’t lead to all-out war.

On Thursday night, Biden was not exactly reassuring.

“I don’t believe there’s going to be an all-out war,” he said. “I think we can avoid it. But there’s a lot to do yet.”

The war is also having consequences at home for Democrats, even if American voters usually don’t think directly about foreign policy when they cast their ballots.

Harris’s commitment to continue supplying arms to Israel is a problem for two key segments of the Democratic base: Arab-Americans in the must-win state of Michigan, and young voters on campuses, where anti-war protests could start up again.

The conflict in the Middle East has also fuelled pocketbook concerns. Biden’s mention of the possibility that Israel would target Iranian refineries caused the price of oil to jump more than 5% on Thursday.

If there’s one thing that American consumers are particularly sensitive to, it's higher prices at the petrol pump.

 

[Saif]

Bengali added to ballot paper for US presidential election

Bengali has been included on New York’s ballot papers for the United States presidential election, marking a first for the South Asian language in the state’s election history. According to a Bangladeshi online portal, Bengali joins English and three other foreign languages on th

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Bengali added to ballot paper for US presidential election
FE ONLINE DESK
Published :
Nov 05, 2024 11:42
Updated :
Nov 05, 2024 12:15

Bengali has been included on New York’s ballot papers for the United States presidential election, marking a first for the South Asian language in the state’s election history.

According to a Bangladeshi online portal, Bengali joins English and three other foreign languages on the ballot, enabling Bengali-speaking voters to participate more easily.

Michael J. Ryan, executive director of the New York Board of Elections, confirmed the information in a press briefing on Monday, November 5 (New York time). The move reflects efforts to increase accessibility and representation for New York's diverse population.​

 

[Saif]

Voters overwhelmingly say US democracy is under threat, exit polls show

The two rivals were hurtling toward an uncertain finish on Tuesday after a dizzying campaign as millions of American voters waited in calm, orderly lines to choose between two sharply different visions for the country.

www.thedailystar.net

Voters overwhelmingly say US democracy is under threat, exit polls show

A person votes at Engine Company 15 during the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Election Day, at a library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 5, 2024. REUTERS

Nearly three-quarters of voters in Tuesday's presidential election say American democracy is under threat, according to preliminary national exit polls from Edison Research, reflecting the nation's deep anxiety after a contentious campaign between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

Democracy and the economy ranked by far as the most important issues for voters, with around a third of respondents citing each, followed by abortion and immigration at 14% and 11%, the data showed. The poll showed 73% of voters believed democracy was in jeopardy, against just 25% who said it was secure.

The data underscores the depth of polarization in a nation whose divisions have only grown starker during a fiercely competitive race. Trump has employed increasingly dark and apocalyptic rhetoric while stoking unfounded fears that the election system cannot be trusted. Harris has urged Americans to come together, warning that a second Trump term would threaten the underpinnings of American democracy.

The figures represent just a slice of the tens of millions of people who have voted, both before and on Election Day, and the preliminary results are subject to change during the evening as more people are surveyed.

Harris was relying on a large turnout by women voters to compensate for her electoral weakness with men. The exit polls showed women made up 53% of the electorate, largely unchanged from the 52% in 2020 exit polls.

The share of voters without a college degree - who favor Trump - was at 57%, down slightly from 2020's 59%, according to the data.

The two rivals were hurtling toward an uncertain finish on Tuesday after a dizzying campaign as millions of American voters waited in calm, orderly lines to choose between two sharply different visions for the country.

A race churned by unprecedented events – two assassination attempts against Trump, President Joe Biden's surprise withdrawal and Harris' rapid rise – remained neck and neck after billions of dollars in spending and months of frenetic campaigning.

Trump, who has frequently spread false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election and whose supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, voted near his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

"If I lose an election, if it's a fair election, I'm gonna be the first one to acknowledge it," Trump told reporters.

Harris, who had earlier sent in her ballot by mail to her home state of California, spent some of Tuesday in radio interviews encouraging listeners to vote. Later, she was due to address students at Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington where Harris was an undergraduate.

"To go back tonight to Howard University, my beloved alma mater, and be able to hopefully recognize this day for what it is, is really full circle for me," Harris said in a radio interview.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

The exit polls showed Harris was viewed more favorably than Trump in Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Georgia, four of the seven states that are likely to decide the election, though her ratings were still lower than Biden's in the 2020 exit polls.

Trump was viewed more favorably than Harris in two of the swing states - Nevada and Pennsylvania - and the two candidates were tied in Arizona.

National exit-poll results provide an important window into the thinking of the nation, but may not directly align with the seven battleground states expected to decide the presidential election.

Exit polls capture variations among turnout in various demographic groups, such as men vs women voters or college-educated vs non-college educated voters, and can provide insights into how turnout has changed from past elections.

One key advantage of exit polls is all the people surveyed, by definition, are people who cast ballots in this election.

Opinion polls before the election showed the candidates running neck and neck in each of the seven states likely to determine the winner: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

No matter who wins, history will be made.

Harris, 60, the first female vice president, would become the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to win the presidency. Trump, 78, the only president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be criminally convicted, would also become the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than a century.

Control of both chambers of Congress is also up for grabs. Republicans have an easier path in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats are defending several seats in Republican-leaning states, while the House of Representatives looks like a toss-up.

Trump's campaign has suggested he may declare victory on election night even while millions of ballots have yet to be counted, as he did four years ago. The winner may not be known for days if the margins in battleground states are as slim as expected.

In Dearborn, Michigan, Nakita Hogue, 50, was joined by her 18-year-old college student daughter, Niemah Hogue, to vote for Harris. Niemah said she takes birth control to help regulate her period, while her mother recalled needing surgery after she had a miscarriage in her 20s, and both feared Republican lawmakers would seek to restrict reproductive healthcare.

"For my daughter, who is going out into the world and making her own way, I want her to have that choice," Nakita Hogue said. "She should be able to make her own decisions."

At a library in Phoenix, Arizona, Felicia Navajo, 34, and her husband Jesse Miranda, 52, arrived with one of their three young kids to vote for Trump.

Miranda, a union plumber, immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico when he was four years old, and said he believed Trump would do a better job of fighting inflation and controlling immigration.

"I want to see good people come to this town, people that are willing to work, people who are willing to just live the American dream," Miranda said.​