With nine days left to go until Election Day in the United States, the two top contenders for the White House – Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump – continue to scramble for votes in battleground states as polls suggest a tight race.
On Saturday, Trump made a bold play for Arab-American and Muslim voters in Michigan, a swing state with nearly 400,000 voters of Arab background.
Michigan voted for Biden in 2020, but anger over Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the war on Lebanon could affect the Democratic turnout for Harris.
Michigan is one of the seven competitive US states likely to decide the winner. It is part of the “Blue Wall” that is considered Democrats’ best chance of electing Harris, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Harris also campaigned in Michigan on Saturday, warning that Trump would exercise “unchecked and extreme power” if he returns to the White House.
What are the latest updates from the polls?
A poll released by the Emerson College Polling on Saturday has Harris and Trump tied at 49 percent each.
The survey, conducted on October 23-24, suggested a tighter race than a week earlier, which showed Harris leading Trump 49 percent to 48 percent. It is also the first time since August in Emerson’s weekly polling that Harris is not in the lead.
“Male voters are breaking for Trump by 13 points, 55 percent to 42 percent, a larger margin than in 2020, while women break for Harris by 10 points, 54 percent to 44 percent, underperforming Biden’s support in 2020,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.
The latest survey also found that regardless of who they will vote for, 50 percent of American voters think Trump will win the election while 49 percent think so for Harris.
The polling also listed the top issues for voters are the economy at 45 percent, followed by immigration (14 percent), threats to democracy (14 percent), abortion access (7 percent), healthcare (6 percent), and crime (4 percent).
Meanwhile, the latest FiveThirtyEight’s daily average showed Harris leading in the national polls, 47.9 to Trump’s 46.6.
According to the same polling, Harris’s unfavourable rating edged up to 47.8 percent, while her favourable rating was at 46.4 percent. Trump’s unfavourable rating was at 52.1 percent while his favourable rating was at 43.4 percent.
What was Kamala Harris up to on Saturday?
Harris was in Michigan, where former First Lady Michelle Obama fired up the crowd of Democratic supporters by drawing distinctions between Harris and Trump on personal character and qualifications, saying there was a double standard in how the two were being treated.
Obama warned that another term under Trump would result in further rollbacks to abortion rights. She said Trump’s promise to rescind the Affordable Care Act passed during her husband’s presidency would affect the “entirety of women’s health,