United States Elections 2024: Trump and Harris’ agenda one day before the vote

Bitter rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump embark on a frenetic final campaign this Monday, and both will arrive in Pennsylvania, a city they must win, on the last day of a close and volatile US presidential election campaign.

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Republican Trump has promised a “landslide victory” in his quest for a sensational return to the White House, while Democrat Harris said the “momentum” was on the of her attempt to be the first female president of the United States.

But polls suggest a different story on the eve of Election Day: a complete stalemate in national polls and in the seven key states where the result is expected to be decided.

The world anxiously follows the elections, which will have profound implications for the conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as for the fight against climate change.

Now, a race of dramatic twists, including two attempts to kill Trump and Harris’ surprising late entry, is being decided on the most contested battlefield.

Harris will spend all day campaigning in the industrial state of Pennsylvania, which will culminate with a large rally in Philadelphia in which the singer Lady Gaga will participate. Trump will travel to North Carolina, Pennsylvania and then Michigan.

In a sign of how crucial Pennsylvania is to occupy the Oval Office, Trump and Harris will hold opposing rallies in the industrial city of Pittsburgh.

Pennsylvania is the largest single award in the United States’ Electoral College system, which awards influence based on population.

Both sides say they are encouraged by early turnout numbers, with more than 78 million people already voting, around half of the total number of votes cast in 2020.

The closeness of the 2024 White House race reflects a deeply divided America, choosing between two candidates whose visions could hardly be more different.

Former President Trump has doubled down on his dark and violent rhetoric in his quest for a second term that would make him the first convicted felon and, at 78, the oldest major party candidate ever elected.

Meanwhile, Vice President Harris, 60, has achieved a stunning rise to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July.

Harris hopes abortion is a key issue that could hurt Trump, especially among women voters, while Trump has focused on immigrants and the economy and called political opponents the “enemy within.”

The two have embarked on a zigzag through key states, with raucous rallies, podcast interviews to reach reluctant voters and stunts like Trump riding in a garbage truck and Harris appearing on the television comedy show Saturday Night Live.

During last Sunday’s election campaign, Trump told supporters he wouldn’t mind if journalists were shot, raised baseless claims of voter fraud and spoke in gory detail of the crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

“Kamala, you’re fired, go,” Trump told a cheering crowd in Georgia.

Trump added that he “should not have left” the White House after losing his 2020 re-election bid to Biden, and then attempted to overturn the results, culminating in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Fears are growing that he will again refuse to accept the result if he is defeated, and there are also concerns that the Election workers may be threatened in the tense days ahead.

Some election staff have been given panic buttons to quickly alert authorities in an emergency, while at least two states, Nevada and Washington, have activated the National Guard in case of unrest.

We have momentum

For her part, Harris, after some more encouraging recent polls, said Sunday at a raucous rally in Michigan that “we have momentum; it’s on our side.”

Harris also courted Michigan’s large Arab-American community that has denounced the U.S. handling of the war between Israel and Hamas, saying she would do “everything in my power to end the war in Gaza.”

The final days of the campaign have seen both candidates introduce high-profile representatives.

Tech mogul Elon Musk, a Trump supporter, has been giving away a million dollars to registered voters, while Harris has appealed to the star power of former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama and singer Beyoncé.

But outgoing President Biden, 81, has been noticeably absent from the process since a gaffe in which he referred to Trump supporters as “trash” last week.

Biden will spend most of the campaign’s final day at the White House, while Harris will begin her day with an event in her hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

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