United States Vice President Kamala Harris and former US president Donald Trump embarked on an intense final push across US swing states on Sunday, with less than 48 hours of campaigning remaining to secure a critical edge in the fiercely contested and historically close presidential election.
“The fate of our nation is in your hands. On Tuesday, you have to stand up,” Trump urged at his first rally of the day in Pennsylvania, where he repeated unfounded claims of election rigging.
According to AFP, more than 76 million people have already cast early ballots, setting the stage for Tuesday’s climax in a race that remains on a knife’s edge, with polls showing several states locked in virtual ties.
The closeness of this election is striking, given its dramatic twists and the vastly different approaches of the candidates, who represent contrasting visions for the country’s future.
A final New York Times/Siena poll on Sunday showed only incremental changes in key battleground states, with results across seven states still firmly within the margin of error.
Harris, intent on solidifying support in the Great Lakes region—seen as critical for any Democratic victory—focused her day in Michigan. Her schedule included stops in Detroit, Pontiac, and a rally at Michigan State University.
Trump concentrated on Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia, the three largest prizes in the Electoral College system, which awards states influence based on population.
Trump has indicated he may reject the election results if he loses, as he suggested four years ago. On Sunday, he pointed to isolated irregularities identified by election officials to bolster his claims of widespread “cheating.”
“They are fighting so hard to steal this damn thing,” he claimed at his rally.
In Pennsylvania, Republicans have been managing fallout after a speaker at Trump’s New York rally sparked controversy by referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” a statement that drew criticism from Pennsylvania’s large Puerto Rican community.
Michigan is also under close scrutiny. Trump flipped the state in 2016, ending its long-standing support for Democrats, but Biden won it back in 2020 with the help of union workers and the substantial Black community.
This year, Harris faces challenges with Michigan’s 200,000-strong Arab-American community, which has voiced dissatisfaction over the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
Pollsters have noted some slippage in Black voter support for the Democratic ticket. Harris’s campaign team acknowledges the need to rally more African American men to replicate Biden’s 2020 coalition.
However, her campaign has found encouragement in high early voting numbers among women, with reproductive rights emerging as a key voter issue.
Harris capped her Saturday campaigning with a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” where she joined comedian Maya Rudolph, who portrays her as “America’s fun aunt.” In her cameo, Harris encouraged viewers, saying, “Keep Kamala and carry on-ala!”
In a bid for maximum TV exposure, the Harris campaign secured a two-minute ad spot during Sunday’s NFL games, including the Green Bay Packers-Detroit Lions matchup—both teams from swing states. In the ad, Harris pledges to be “a president for all Americans” and to “build a brighter future for our nation.”
According to her campaign, recent polling has shown that “the last week has proven decisive in cementing the choice in this election” for undecided and infrequent voters, citing contrasting rallies held by the candidates.
Harris, 60, gained momentum Saturday in Iowa, where the final Des Moines Register poll before Election Day showed her with a surprising lead in a state that Trump won easily in 2016 and 2020.
Trump, addressing the rally crowd in Pennsylvania, dismissed the poll as “fake.”
