US elections: 7 days left – What the polls say, what Harris and Trump plan | 2024 US Election News

A week before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris promised to “turn the page on fear and division” at a campaign rally in the battleground state of Michigan.

Meanwhile, former US President Donald Trump blasted his critics, including former first lady Michelle Obama, whom he called “nasty” at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia.

Incendiary devices were set off on Monday at two ballot drop boxes – one in Portland and the other in nearby Vancouver, Washington – destroying hundreds of ballots in what one official called a “direct attack on democracy.”

What is the latest information from surveys?

Harris and Trump remain neck-and-neck, with analysts predicting minimal swing votes in several key swing states.

Harris has a slight lead in national polls, with a 1.4 percentage point lead as of Tuesday, according to FiveThirtyEight’s daily election poll tracker. This means a slight decrease compared to the previous week, when it was ahead by 1.7 percentage points.

The results of this election will likely be decided by seven key swing states. Both campaigns focused attention and effort on this.

These seven states are Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada.

Harris maintains a slim lead in Michigan, according to FiveThirtyEight’s daily poll. Meanwhile, Trump has a slight lead over Harris in Pennsylvania and Nevada, and has larger leads in North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia.

In Wisconsin, they’re not even a tenth of a percentage point apart, according to FiveThirtyEight.

In all seven states, candidates are within two points of each other, well within the polls’ margin of error, leaving each state days before the final vote.

What was Kamala Harris doing on Sunday?

Harris focused on Michigan, where her main event was an evening campaign rally and concert in Ann Arbor that included her running mate Tim Walz and singer Maggie Rogers.

Michigan saw the nation’s highest youth voter turnout in 2022, with long lines at polling places on college campuses during the midterm elections. This year, Democrats are trying to rekindle that energy with events like the rally held in Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan.

However, during the event, about 30 pro-Palestinian protesters confronted Harris. The nominee acknowledged the chants, telling protesters, “Hey guys, I hear you.” The group chanted: “Israeli bombs, Kamala pays, how many children have you killed today?”

After expressing his appreciation for the group, Harris said: “When it comes to Gaza, we all want this war to end as quickly as possible and for the hostages to be released, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen.”

She previously organized afternoon campaign events in Saginaw and Macomb counties. Harris appealed to working-class voters, highlighting the administration’s efforts to create more factory jobs in the state and its support for labor unions.

Before flying to Michigan, Harris also took a jab at Trump, referencing comments he made a day earlier at a Trump rally in New York during which the comedian called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

“(It) really underscored a point that I’ve been making throughout this campaign,” which is that Trump “is fixated on his grievances, on himself, and on the division of our country, and that is in no way something that will strengthen the American family, the American worker,” Harris said.

“There is a big difference between him and me,” she added.

According to Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, who reported from Washington, the Harris campaign is trying to capitalize on some of the racist language that emerged during Trump’s rally.

“This is an attempt for the Harris campaign to convince undecided Latino voters, particularly in the swing state of Pennsylvania, to vote for her,” Jordan said.

More than 450,000 Puerto Ricans live in Pennsylvania, making up 8 percent of the state’s population. There, Trump and Harris are separated by just 0.2 percentage points, and Pennsylvania offers 19 Electoral College votes – the most among swing states.

What was Donald Trump doing on Monday?

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was in Georgia. In the afternoon, he delivered keynote speeches at the inaugural 2024 National Faith Summit in Powder Springs, and in the evening, he held a rally in Atlanta.

During his events, Trump rejected claims that he or his supporters are comparable to Nazis and fascists.

“I’m not a Nazi. I’m the opposite of a Nazi,” Trump told the crowd at Georgia Tech. “The way they talk is disgusting and just terrible.”

“My father – I had a great father, a tough guy. He always said, “Never use the word Nazi.” Never use this word.

He then criticized Harris for “using the f-word.” In response to comments by Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, who said the former president met the definition of a fascist, Harris agreed with that assessment. Trump said of Harris: “She’s a fascist, okay? She is a fascist.

He also called former first lady Michelle Obama “nasty” at an event in Atlanta after she condemned his rhetoric over the weekend.

Georgia is an important key swing state. Trump won it in the 2016 presidential race and lost it in 2020.

However, during the events in Georgia, Trump remained silent about racist remarks about Puerto Rico during a rally in New York.

“But that’s to be expected from a former president,” said Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from outside the former president’s rally in Atlanta.

“Donald Trump is guided by the principle of never apologizing and never backing down,” he added.

What’s next for Harris and Trump’s campaigns?

Harris will speak in Washington

Harris is expected to deliver a speech to a crowd of 20,000 in Washington on Tuesday evening, which her campaign is touting as the former prosecutor’s “closing argument.”

Harris will speak at the Ellipse, just outside the White House.

This is the same place where Trump addressed his supporters during his infamous “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, just before a pro-Trump mob attacked the US Capitol.

Meanwhile, Tim Walz – a Harris pal – will campaign on Tuesday in Georgia, a key swing state where Trump is actively rallying his base.

Trump rallies in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Trump will hold a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania is a critical battleground state, and both Trump and Harris have made several visits there in recent weeks.

Given the scale of Puerto Rico’s vote in the state and racist comments during Trump’s rally against the U.S. territory, Trump’s campaign visits could become even more important to his efforts to win a state where he currently believes he marginally leads. to track surveys.

Although Puerto Ricans living on the island do not vote in presidential elections, Americans of Puerto Rican origin or descent constitute a key demographic in some swing states.

“Puerto Rico is garbage? We are Americans, Donald Trump,” TV host Sunny Hostin said on the popular show The View on Monday. “We vote.” Hostin’s family is from Puerto Rico.

.@Sunny Hostin: “This Puerto Rican has something to say about the island I love and where my family is from. Puerto Rico is trash? We are Americans, Donald Trump.”

“My dear Puerto Ricans, garbage collection day is November 5, 2024. Don’t forget about it.” pic.twitter.com/fFC4aMeZUg

— The View (@TheView) October 28, 2024

Analysts believe whoever wins Pennsylvania could very well win the White House.

“I’m really looking at Pennsylvania.” Thomas Gift, professor of political science at UCL’s School of Public Policy, told Al Jazeera.

“Recent projections showed that if Donald Trump wins Pennsylvania, his chances of winning the White House increase to 96 percent; If Kamala Harris wins Pennsylvania, her chances of winning the White House increase to 91 percent,” Gift added.