'Too close to call': US to enter Election Day with tightly drawn race

'Too close to call': US to enter Election Day with tightly drawn race 

Nikki Fuller, 56, flexes her muscles while standing on a truck bed, as supporters of Donald
Trump gather ahead of the presidential election in West Palm Beach, Florida, November 4. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare

By Yang Sheng Published: Nov 04, 2024 Global Times

The two candidates of 2024 US presidential election, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump, made their final push on Monday, one day before the Election Day, amid the tightly drawn presidential campaign. 

The Associated Press (AP) reported on Monday that Harris was scheduled to spend all of Monday in Pennsylvania, whose 19 electoral votes offer the largest prize among the states expected to determine the Electoral College outcome. The vice president and Democratic nominee was scheduled to visit working-class areas including Allentown and end with a late-night Philadelphia rally that includes Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

Harris on Monday discussed her plans to build an "opportunity economy" and outlined specific economic proposals during a pre-taped radio interview with Univision Radio's Spanish-language program, CNN reported. 

The Democratic and Republican tickets also have raised hundreds of millions of dollars from donors in these states, and their political parties have spent about $1 billion in advertising.

Trump plans four rallies in three states, beginning in Raleigh, North Carolina and stopping twice in Pennsylvania with events in Reading and Pittsburgh. The Republican nominee and former president ends his campaign the way he ended the first two, with a late Monday night event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, AP reported.

A recent New York Times/Siena poll shows that Trump and Harris are effectively tied in Pennsylvania, each receiving 48 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, according to FiveThirtyEight's National Polls tracker, Harris holds a narrow lead of 1 percentage point over Trump. However, this lead is shrinking, indicating that either candidate has a strong chance of winning, Al Jazeera reported.

In the final hours before US Election Day, Kamala Harris appealed to voters upset by the Gaza war, while Donald Trump intensified his violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot, France24 reported.

A CNN analysis said that whichever candidate wins the presidential election, history will be made. 

If Trump wins, he will be only the second defeated president to win a nonconsecutive term. He will complete one of the most staggering political comebacks, being convicted of a crime and escaping two attempts on his life this year. If Harris wins, she could shatter the line of nearly 250 years of male commanders in chief and become the first woman president, CNN reported.  

About 77 million Americans have already voted early, but Harris and Trump are pushing to turn out many millions more supporters on Tuesday. Either result on Election Day will yield a historic outcome, according to AP. 

According to the US News on Thursday, across all seven swing states, the two candidates and their running mates have made visits almost 200 times since President Joe Biden exited the race on July 21. The Democratic and Republican tickets also have raised hundreds of millions of dollars from donors in these states, and their political parties have spent about $1 billion in advertising.

Election day polling times vary from state to state. The first polls close on Election Day at 6pm ET in some counties in Indiana and Kentucky, and the last polls close at 1am ET Wednesday, November 6, in Alaska, CNN reported, adding the result may take a while. In 2020, the process took days as multiple states were decided by incredibly close margins

Too close to call

Fox News reported on Sunday that the final New York Times/Siena College Battleground poll of the 2024 race shows a razor-tight election in the battleground states just days before the election. 

"Too close to call," Siena Research declared in a social media post about the poll, according to Fox News.

Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Monday that this year's election is probably the most difficult one scholars have had to predict, and the difficulty is not only about "who will win," but also about "what will happen after the election results have been announced."

As for ripple effects, US media outlets have reported multiple incidents and expressed concerns about election violence. National Guard has been activated to prevent situation similar to the Capitol Hill riot. 

In a phone conversation with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl on Sunday morning, Trump said he has "a substantial lead" and predicted the winner of the election will be known by election night.

As for when he will address the country about the election results, Trump said, "I'll be out there at the right time."

Lü Xiang, an expert on US studies and research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said neither candidate will accept defeat easily, because they have bet too much on this campaign⍐. 

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