Donald Trump ramped up the angry rhetoric that has defined his campaign on Sunday, lashing out at political foes and making unfounded claims of electoral fraud as polls showed the US presidential race going down to the wire in the final 48 hours.
Trump’s tone at rallies across battleground states was in contrast to Kamala Harris’s upbeat campaign message in Michigan, as both candidates made their final pitches to undecided voters and sought to rally supporters.
Their presidential campaigns are battling for any edge in the last stretch of a bitter White House contest in which the candidates are running neck-and-neck in the states that will decide the election.
Speaking in Pennsylvania early in the day, Trump accused Democrats of being “demonic” and said they were “fighting so hard to steal this damn thing”, baselessly accusing Democrats of fraud as he did in 2020.
“It’s a crooked country, and we’re going to make it straight,” he said.
The Republican nominee also declared that he “shouldn’t have left” office four years ago, when he lost to US President Joe Biden. He then took a swipe at the media after complaining about the protective glass barriers that are now a feature of his rallies after two assassination attempts.
“To get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don’t mind that so much. I don’t mind that,” he said.
The Harris campaign seized on his remarks, which was the latest in a series of references to violence from the former president.
“He really is closing his campaign with total darkness and anger,” a senior Harris campaign official told reporters on Sunday.
After making a late-night appearance on the Saturday Night Live comedy show in New York, Harris began a sweep of Michigan with an appearance at a Black church in Detroit. She then held a rally in East Lansing in the centre of the state. In each she was careful to push an upbeat closing message.
“We have the momentum because our campaign is tapping into the ambition, the aspirations, and the dreams of the American people, because we are optimistic and excited about what we can do together,” she said.
Earlier, she warned Americans not to be swayed by Trump’s allegations of electoral fraud.
“I would ask, in particular, people who have not yet voted, to not fall for this tactic, which I think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won’t matter,” she said.
Over the weekend, the vice-president was buoyed by a respected poll which showed her leading Trump by three percentage points in the staunchly conservative state of Iowa, which the Republican former president won by nine points in 2020.
According to the survey by the Des Moines Register, her surge was propelled by growing support among women — and older white women in particular — which if replicated across the Midwest could be decisive.
However, other surveys published on Sunday showed the race to be essentially deadlocked.
A New York Times/Siena poll showed Harris leading in Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia and Wisconsin, which would be just enough for her to prevail, but tied in Pennsylvania and Michigan, while trailing in Arizona. The FT’s poll tracker shows Harris holding a 1.3 percentage point lead nationally.
“It’s a choice between whether we will have four more years of incompetence and failure, which is what we have right now, or whether we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country,” Trump said. “It’s now or never, this is the moment.”
Trump has been counting on voter disapproval of Harris on the economy and immigration to propel him back into the White House for a second term.
Harris and her allies are seeing evidence of strong support among women due to her support for abortion rights, and their rejection of Trump’s character.
“I believe that this will be a tight race. That’s the nature of our country in this moment. But the momentum is with her,” Raphael Warnock, the Georgia Democratic senator, said on NBC on Sunday.
Trump’s campaign has made a big bet that he can reel in more Black and Latino male voters who do not vote as reliably as other segments of the population, and that widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of the country will get them to victory.
“We’re not taking anything for granted, but the issues are on our side. People want a secure border. They want a strong economy. They want peace through strength and a stronger national security around the world,” said Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican congresswoman, on Fox News Sunday.
“On every top issue, Republicans are winning. President Trump is winning,” she said.
Video: America divided: the women who vote for Trump | FT Film
