By Mark Ogagan
The day has arrived: millions of Americans are set to head to the polls and choose between the two presidential candidates who remain neck and neck in the polls.
Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump, who have been embroiled in a relentless battle for votes for months, remain split by 1.2% in favour of Harris according to the latest polls Monday — a lead well within the margin of error.
After weeks of campaigning, polls are set to open across the US to decide the next president.
Over 82 million have already voted, according to data published by the University of Florida’s election lab, breaking records in some crucial swing states such as North Carolina.
Trump wrapped up his campaign trail with a final speech in Grand Rapids, in the swing state of Michigan he flipped back in 2016. Meanwhile, Harris concluded by pledging to “get to work” if elected in Philadelphia, another battleground state where incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden won by 1.2% in 2020.
Popular podcaster Joe Rogan has endorsed Trump for president, just as polls open for Americans to vote in the presidential race.
Rogan’s podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” is one of the most listened to podcasts in the world, with men making up the majority of its listeners. Several weeks ago, he invited Trump on it for a three-hour interview.
Rogan claimed Harris had expressed interest in sitting for an episode, but that timings didn’t match up.
Trump’s final campaign speech has just concluded in Michigan. The former president stuck to some policy points, namely immigration, but spent a portion of his final message meandering through a series of tangents, and criticising Harris.
Promising to usher in a new “golden age” for the US, he then spoke about assigning nicknames for his political opponents — and said “groceries” was an old term he hadn’t heard much.
He cast doubt on the electoral process, saying using “paper” for ballots was old-fashioned and slow, insisting “we want the answer tonight.”
Harris was the subject of much vitriol, with Trump saying the Democrat has a “low IQ” and that she and Biden had destroyed the US.
He said Nancy Pelosi and Democrats were “trouble for our country. They are bad, sick, people.”
At the end of his speech, he brought out the mayor of Hamtrack, Amer Ghalib, on stage to signal his support among Arab Americans.
Republicans are hoping Arab American voters, frustrated with Biden’s policies in the Middle East, will vote for Trump today.
“Ours is not a fight against nothing, but for something… Tonight we finish as we started: with energy, optimism, joy,” Democratic candidate Kamala Harris said, wrapping up her campaign trail in Philadelphia on Monday night.
Describing her months-long run as a fight for democracy, the incumbent vice-president chose to end on a positive note with one last appeal to young voters.
“Generations before us led the fight for freedom, and now the baton is in our hands,” Harris said. “We need to get to work and get out the vote.”
Philadelphia is the largest city in the East Coast state of Pennsylvania, one of the seven key swing states — US states where the election could reasonably go to either of the two candidates.
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