DONALD TRUMP and Kamala Harris made frantic final pushes for votes in swing states yesterday – as the US election remained too close to call.
With less than 24 hours until America decides on its next President, polls indicate the race for the White House is on a knife edge.
Of the seven battleground states likely to decide the outcome, Trump is edging ahead in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia, according to the latest from the FiveThirtyEight polling aggregator.
Meanwhile, Harris is hanging on to slim one-point leads in Michigan and Wisconsin, but the candidates are virtually tied in Pennsylvania.
There was an upset in Iowa, where a typically rock-solid Republican stronghold saw Harris pull ahead in a shock poll from the typically reliable Des Moines Register.
But the former US President yesterday blasted the poll as “wrong” during a fiery rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
READ MORE ON THE US ELECTION
“They told me I’m down in Iowa – I don’t think so”, Republican Trump declared, before riling up the crowd with his trademark lines on immigration, election fraud claims and the economy.
Rural areas
Appearing on our Never Mind The Ballots US election special in New York, James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners, highlighted the unpredictability of the race.
He said: “Our model has gone from a 68-per-cent chance of a Trump win last week to 60 per cent. So we are getting into that too-close-to-call territory.
“One of the big reasons for that is the poll that came out in Iowa by a very respected pollster. Is there a hidden Harris voter out there?”
But Mr Johnson still called Trump the “favourite” due to his strength in rural areas among white men.
The Sun’s political editor Harry Cole hosts a special US election episode of Never Mind The Ballots
Trump packed in rallies across North Carolina and Georgia on Sunday, while Harris zeroed in on Michigan, a key state that is viewed as a must-win for the Democrats.
Cheeky gag
It was the first day since last Tuesday that the two candidates did not campaign in the same state.
On Saturday, their planes shared a stretch of tarmac in Charlotte, North Carolina, where both held rallies.
Rock star Jon Bon Jovi gave his endorsement for Harris as he performed two songs at the city’s PNC Music Pavilion.
The Vice President then flew to New York City for a surprise appearance on TV’s Saturday Night Live comedy show.
Harris joined actress Maya Rudolph, who was dressed identically to the presidential candidate, for a sketch at a dressing room mirror.
Giving each other a pep talk, the pair said in unison: “Keep Kamala and carry on-a-la”.
They also took aim at Trump’s recent rally speeches, including wearing an orange and yellow safety jacket and a cheeky mic gag.
But the SNL appearance was accused of violating “equal time” rules governing political programmes, by the Federal Communications Commission.
Brendan Carr, a commissioner at the FCC and Trump appointee, said: “The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election, unless the broadcaster offered equal time to other qualifying campaigns.”
Meanwhile, Hollywood’s big guns continued to line up for Harris over the weekend.
Actor Harrison Ford, 82, said in a dramatic black-and-white video: “I’ve been voting for 64 years, never really wanted to talk about it, but when dozens of former members of the Trump administration sound alarms, saying, ‘For God sake — don’t do this again’, you have to pay attention.”
Ford joined A-list Harris fans Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Eminem, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
