HOUSTON: With just one day to go before the US presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, are sending contrasting messages to voters as they stump in key battleground states.
Trump will be in three key swing states on Monday: Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina.
At a campaign rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania on Sunday, Trump told the crowd that he “shouldn’t have left” the Oval Office when he lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, an election in which Trump has continually made unfounded claims that the voting was rigged, according to Anadolu Agency.
The former president kept that dark tone by baselessly claiming Democrats were cheating in the 2024 election and “fighting so hard to steal this damn thing.”
“They spend all this money, all this money on machines, and they’re going to say, we may take an extra 12 days to determine. And what do you think happens during that 12 days? What do you think happens?” Trump asked the crowd, which yelled back: “Cheating!”
“These elections have to be, they have to be decided by 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock on Tuesday night,“ Trump continued. “Bunch of crooked people, these are crooked people.”
According to Anadolu, in contrast, Harris, who is also spending her final day before the election in Pennsylvania, is campaigning “to end the war in Gaza” by holding rallies in Allentown, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania has a significant Arab and Muslim population, which political experts have said could be key to winning the critical swing state en route to winning the White House.
Harris spent Sunday stumping in Michigan, another crucial battleground state with one of the largest Arab and Muslim populations in the US.
She acknowledged the human toll in the Israeli-Palestinian War in Gaza which has left more than 43,000 Palestinians dead and promised to address that issue immediately, if elected president.
“I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination,“ Harris told the crowd.
Harris has constantly differentiated herself from Trump by pointing out to audiences the contrast between them if they are elected to the White House.
“On day one, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list,“ Harris said at a previous rally in Washington, D.C. “When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list full of priorities on what I will get done for the American people.”
On the day before the election, the polling tracker 538, which tallies all of the major presidential polls across the US, shows that Harris and Trump are running neck-and-neck with Harris leading by a razor thin margin over Trump, 47.9 per cent to 47.0 per cent.
In the key swing state of Michigan, Harris leads Trump by a similar margin, 47.9 per cent to 47.1 per cent and in the other crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, Trump leads Harris by two-tenths of a percentage point, 47.9 per cent to 47.7 per cent.
With the margin of error in most polls between 3 per cent and 5 per cent, both candidates are in a dead heat, which is why they are stumping in the critical battleground states all the way to the finish line.
