Washington, Nov. 3. (Adnkronos/Afp) – Kamala Harris and Donald Trump began a frenetic last assault on swing states in the US today, with less than 48 hours of campaigning left to secure a decisive advantage in a hard-fought and historically close presidential election. “The fate of our nation is in your hands. On Tuesday, you must stand up,” Trump said at his first rally of the day in Pennsylvania. Over 76 million people voted early and the battle is still on, with multiple states tied in the polls. A latest poll conducted by the New York Times highlighted some gradual changes in key swing states. Harris plans to consolidate the Great Lakes states, considered essential for any Democratic candidate. Trump has focused on Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, the three biggest targets of the “Electoral College” system, which awards influence to states based on their population. The race for the White House will be a close race in the seven swing states. According to a poll by the New York Times and Siena College, Harris has an advantage in Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin, while Trump is ahead in Arizona. In Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, the two candidates would be neck and neck. In Pennsylvania, Trump is making up points on Harris. Trump would have to reject the results if he loses, as he did four years ago. Today, he has exploited isolated irregularities uncovered by election officials to amplify his claims of widespread “fraud.” “They’re fighting hard to steal the damn thing,” he insisted at the rally. Republicans are also trying to contain the fallout in Pennsylvania, home to a large Puerto Rican community, after a speaker at Trump’s rally in New York sparked outrage by describing the US territory as “a floating island of garbage.” Like Pennsylvania, Michigan is also among the seven closely monitored battlegrounds. Harris risks losing the support of a 200,000-strong Arab-American community that has denounced Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Pollsters have noted an erosion of black support for the Democratic ticket, and Harris aides acknowledge that there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that the number of African-American men matches that of Biden’s winning coalition in 2020.
