US elections: 7 days to go – What polls say, what Harris and Trump are planning | News about the 2024 US elections

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

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

Incendiary devices were set off Monday at two polling places — one in Portland and another in nearby Vancouver, Washington — destroying hundreds of ballots in what one official called a “direct attack on democracy.”

What are the latest updates from the polls?

Harris and Trump remain neck and neck, with analysts predicting the election will come down to razor-thin margins in a few key swing states.

According to FiveThirtyEight’s daily election tracker, Harris has a slim lead in national polls, with a 1.4 percentage point lead as of Tuesday. This is a slight decrease compared to the previous week, when she had a 1.7 percentage point lead.

Seven key swing states will likely determine the outcome of this election. Both campaigns have put their focus and efforts on this.

Those seven states include Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada.

Harris maintains a narrow lead in Michigan, according to FiveThirtyEight’s daily poll tracker. Meanwhile, Trump has a slight lead over Harris in Pennsylvania and Nevada and a more substantial lead in North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia.

And in Wisconsin, there is less than a tenth of a percentage point between the two, according to FiveThirtyEight.

In all seven states, the candidates are within two points of each other, well within the polls’ margins of error, putting each state in a bid for the election just days before the final vote.

What was Kamala Harris up to on Sunday?

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

In 2022, Michigan had the highest youth turnout in the country, with long lines at polling places on college campuses, during the midterm elections. This year, Democrats are trying to reignite that energy by hosting events like the rally in Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan.

However, about thirty pro-Palestinian protesters confronted Harris at the event. The nominee acknowledged the chants and told the protesters, “Hey guys, I hear you.” The group sang: “Israel bombs, Kamala pays, how many children have you killed today?”

After acknowledging the group, Harris said: “As for Gaza, we all want this war to end as quickly as possible and for the hostages to get out, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen.”

Before that, she held afternoon campaign events in Saginaw and Macomb County. Harris made a pitch to working-class voters by highlighting the administration’s efforts to create more manufacturing jobs in the state and its support for unions.

Before flying to Michigan, Harris also made a joke about Trump, referencing comments he made the day before at Trump’s rally in New York, where a comedian called Puerto Rico “a floating island of trash.”

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

“There’s a big difference between him and I,” she added.

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

“This is a way for the Harris campaign to convince those undecided Latino voters, especially in the swing state of Pennsylvania, to vote for her,” Jordan said.

Pennsylvania is home to more than 450,000 Puerto Ricans, who make up 8 percent of the state’s population. The difference between Trump and Harris is just 0.2 percentage points, and Pennsylvania offers 19 Electoral College votes – the most among swing states.

What was Donald Trump up to on Monday?

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was in Georgia. He delivered remarks at the first National Faith Summit 2024 in Powder Springs in the afternoon before holding an evening rally in Atlanta.

At his events, Trump rejected claims that he or his supporters were similar to Nazis and fascists.

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

“My dad – I had a great dad, a tough guy. He always said: never use the word Nazi. Never use that word.”

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

At his event in Atlanta, he also called former First Lady Michelle Obama “nasty” after she condemned his rhetoric over the weekend.

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

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

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

“Donald Trump operates on the principle of never apologizing and never giving up,” he added.

What’s next for the Harris and Trump campaigns?

Harris will speak in Washington, DC

Harris is expected to address a crowd of 20,000 people in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening, in what her campaign is billing as the former prosecutor’s “closing argument.”

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

That’s the same place where Trump addressed his supporters during his infamous “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, moments before a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.

Meanwhile, Tim Walz – Harris’ running mate – will campaign on Tuesday in Georgia, a key swing state where Trump has been actively rallying his base.

Trump meets in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Trump will hold a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

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

Given the size of the Puerto Rican vote in the state and the racist comments made at Trump’s rally against the U.S. territory, Trump’s campaign visits could become even more important to his bid to win the state, which he currently marginally leads gives. to interrogate trackers.

While Puerto Ricans living on the island do not vote in presidential elections, Americans of Puerto Rican descent or ancestry are an important demographic group in some swing states.

“Puerto Rico is trash? We are Americans, Donald Trump,” TV presenter 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, where my family comes from. Puerto Rico is trash? We are Americans, Donald Trump.”

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

— The View (@TheView) October 28, 2024

Whoever wins Pennysylvania could win the White House, analysts think.

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

“Some recent predictions have shown that if Donald Trump can win in Pennsylvania, his chances of winning the White House could be as high as 96 percent; if Kamala Harris wins Pennsylvania, her chances of winning the White House increase to 91 percent,” Gift added.