Poll shows Donald Trump trailing Joe Biden in last days of election
Donald Trump addresses voters in Florida as the FBI investigates the alleged harassment of a Biden campaign bus and Aussies are urged to stay away from the US.
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Joe Biden also denounced the alleged harassment of one of his campaign buses by Donald Trump supporters on a Texas highway - an incident the FBI confirmed it is investigating.
Video posted on Twitter appears to show multiple trucks waving Trump flags surrounding and slowing the Biden/Harris bus.
Democratic officials said the bus, carrying state congressional candidate Wendy Davis, stopped its journey and cancelled two planned events and a news conference, citing “safety concerns.” The President himself tweeted a video of the incident late Saturday local time, saying, “I LOVE TEXAS.”
“We’ve never had anything like this - at least we’ve never had a president who thinks it’s a good thing,” Biden told supporters in Philadelphia.
In another tweet, the US President said: “In my opinion these patriots did nothing wrong.”
He added that the President’s son, Donald Trump Jr, made a video urging backers to “keep it up,” and find where Biden running mate Kamala Harris is and greet her the same way.
“Folks, that’s not who we are. We are so much better than this,” Biden said.
The FBI’s San Antonio office told AFP Sunday they were investigating the Texas incident but declined to give further comment.
An SUV belonging to the Democratic caravan was reportedly sideswiped.
No injuries were reported, and it was unclear whether anyone involved was armed.
DFAT ISSUES TRAVEL WARNING TO AUSTRALIANS
Australians have been warned to stay away from the US amid fears of civil unrest as election day looms.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a warning to Australians on Friday not to travel to the US because of the “potential for violence” in the coming days and weeks.
The department said there was a significant risk to travellers due to protests, terrorism and COVID-19.
“Protests and demonstrations continue in several US cities. Avoid areas where protests are occurring due to the ongoing potential for violence.”
Fears of tensions on election night and afterwards, with vote counting expected to continue due to the large number of mail-in ballots, were further stoked by a report that Donald Trump could declare victory prematurely.
The Axios news site reported that Trump has told confidants he would declare victory on Tuesday night local time if it looks like he’s ahead.
On the tarmac of an airport in Dubuque, Iowa — where he held his second rally of the day — Mr Trump called it a “false report” but also repeated his argument that “I don’t think it’s fair that we have to wait for a long period of time after the election.”
He has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that mail-in ballots are open to fraud, and warned Saturday of “bedlam in our country” if no clear winner emerges quickly.
When asked about the report, Biden said: “The President is not going to steal this election.”
DRAMA AS TRUMP RALLIES IN BATTLEGROUND STATE
Donald Trump has addressed a massive crowd of MAGA supporters in North Carolina.
The US President arrived at 6.35pm local time, 65 minutes late, aboard the chopper Marine One.
Minutes later, a 10m high scissor riser – one of two being used to hold up a massive American flag in the designated media area – blew over just after he arrived and commented on the very windy conditions.
It crashed into a building just metres from where the News Corp correspondent was seated.
A second riser was immediately lowered and removed, while a third riser behind the photographers’ stage area was lowered to avoid another accident.
The President did not seem aware of the incident which took place about some 75m away from him.
Security and logistics workers were clearly worried about the possibility of another accident as they yelled at each other to lower the third riser in the media area.
There also a number of risers being used out in the general area where Mr Trump is speaking.
A crowd of up to 30,000 was anticipated to attend the MAGA rally in the battleground state as the President continued his remarkable journey through the states that will decide next week’s election.
The local newspaper, the Hickory Daily Record, reported police in the town of just 42,000 had been told by the Secret Service that they were preparing for a bumper crowd.
It was estimated to be at least 10,000 two hours before the rally began.
The line of people hoping to get into the MAGA rally stretched at least a kilometre down the street, with thousands already inside hours before the president was scheduled to arrive.
Mr Trump won North Carolina in 2016.
The crowd cheered in full voice when a local politician declared he would repeal the state’s mask mandate if the Republicans won this week.
Senator Tom Tillis encouraged the crowd to chant “Back the Blue!” to support local policemen.
“And that’s what President Trump does. Voting red means removing every Democrat, every single one,” Sen Tillis said.
Thousands of people raised their hand when he asked if they had voted yet.
He then urged each of them to call nine family members and friends to vote on Tuesday for Mr Trump.
“This is Trump country!” declared supporter Karen Bolick.
“He keeps the promises he made, he’s lowered my taxes and my stocks have doubled. He will keep his word. Joe Biden is just a liar.”
Her son Seth is only 17 and regrets he can’t vote for his “hero”.
“I have the same morals as him,” Seth said.
“It is religious-based, he supports the things I do, especially guns and the second amendment.”
Asked whether she was expecting a crowd like this, Cathy Murph, from Marion NC, replied:
“I sure was, they are still coming in! I figured anything from 15,000 to 25,000. I think there are 20,000 already and they are still coming in. I voted for him in 2016 and he sure is going to win again!”
Wearing a blue T-shirt with the word “Deplorable” splashed across it, in reference to how Hillary Clinton described Trump supporters in 2016, 62-year-old Scott Sutton said he was a “straight Democrat voter” until 2016.
“I’m proud to be a deplorable Trump voter!” he said to News Corp as he waited in the crowd for the President to arrive.
“I think being a deplorable is just being a normal America-loving country boy. I was born and raised a Democrat, my whole family was.
“But they switched places, Democrats used to be for the working man but now that’s the Republicans.
“As soon as Hillary Clinton called us deplorables, she put us all in the same basket.
“I don’t see how he is behind in the polls. We have never seen such a crowd before.”
Shelley Campbell and partner Jacob Huffman are devout Trump supporters who simply like him because “he’s not a politician”.
“Trump is a businessman, he gets things done. Look at Joe Biden, he’s been a politician for 47 years, he’s never had a real job,” Mr Huffman said.
“He will win. Look at this crowd, and it’s only a small town.
“North Carolina is behind the President because he is our President.”
When asked what she thought of Joe Biden, Ms Campbell giggled and said: “Is he the best they could come up with? Really?”
TRUMP SLAMS BIDEN AS RACE TIGHTENS
Donald Trump began Sunday local time – two days before the presidential election – making a last-minute plea to voters and once again claimed that Joe Biden referred to young black men as “super predators.”
“Our numbers are looking VERY good all over. Sleepy Joe is already beginning to pull out of certain states. The Radical Left is going down!,” the President wrote in a series of tweets which he fired off starting at around 6:30am.
“People have long been voting but Joe Biden has still not released his Supreme Court List of Radical Left Judges that he would like to put on the Court. Also, is he going to Court Pack?,” Mr Trump said in another posting.
“He thinks he can bluff his way through these two important questions. Can only vote against!!!”
He continued: “Joe Biden called Black Youth SUPER PREDATORS. They will NEVER like him, or vote for him. They are voting for ‘TRUMP’.”
The New York Post reported it was actually Hillary Clinton, not Mr Biden, who called young black men “super predators.”
Mr Biden did refer to “predators on our streets” during the legislative battle over the 1994 crime bill.
Mr Trump told Michigan voters his 2016 win saved workers and promised “big jobs plans” if he is re-elected.
“When I originally became your all time favourite President, the Great State of Michigan was haemorrhaging car companies and jobs. Plants were closing and moving to Mexico, and other places. No new plants for decades,” the president wrote in a posting. “I stopped the moves, & now many plants are and have been built.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2020
Mr Trump continued to tweet throughout Sunday, posting figures about economic growth and video of him campaigning in Michigan as snow fell.
“The place was a mess and would have lost much more business if I hadn’t come along. Many new plants are starting. Foreign countries and companies now treat the USA, and Michigan, with respect. Big jobs plans. Please remember this when you go to cast your very important vote!,” Mr Trump continued.
Mr Trump plans to continue campaigning on Sunday in the states of Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa and Georgia.
Meanwhile, Mr Biden will hold a rally in Philadelphia.
POLLS SHOWS TIGHT RACE, ADVISER PREDICTS TRUMP SWEEP
Sunday, local time, key poll findings were released showing the race between the candidates is narrowing, but Mr Biden holds the lead.
A Wall Street Journal poll shows Joe Biden leading Donald Trump 52 per cent to 42 per cent.
Mr Trump is trailing by ten points in the last two days of his vigorous re-election campaign, ostensibly due to major public anxiety over the unabated coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged the US economy and healthcare system.
Women and seniors in particular appear to favour Mr Biden and disapprove of Mr Trump’s response to the pandemic, which has resulted in the US leading the world in COVID case numbers.
However, the race between candidates is tightening in 12 battleground states.
While a New York Times poll shows Mr Biden leading Mr Trump in four key swing states, with Mr Biden ahead by 6 points in Pennsylvania and by 11 points in Wisconsin, other swing state surveys show Mr Trump could still build an Electoral College majority — as he did in 2016.
Mr Trump’s senior campaign adviser Jason Miller predicted that Mr Trump will sweep the “sun belt” states, which include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas, Nevada, Utah, and even parts of North Carolina and California.
Winning those southern tier states would propel him to an Electoral College victory in Tuesday’s election, ABC News reports.
OBAMA BACKS ‘DECENT’ BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT
Barack Obama finally joined his former vice president on the campaign trail, giving a last minute but much needed boost to Joe Biden’s tilt for the presidency.
As polls tightened in the swing states that are expected to decide Tuesday’s election, Mr Obama came out swinging against his predecessor and talked up Mr Biden’s “decency”.
Labelling Donald Trump the “Let America get COVID” president, Mr Obama yesterday decried Mr Trump’s record on international relations, the economy and the pandemic.
America on Friday set a world record for new confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 100,000 diagnosed.
Mr Trump also zeroed in the pandemic, framing the election as a choice between America being open for business or closed down by Democrats.
As he started a four-rally sprint through Pennsylvania, Mr Trump warned the state held the future of America in its hands.
Describing his opponent’s plan to combat the coronavirus as one to shut down the country again and “kill off the economy”, he said the Democrat contender was “obsessed” with the pandemic.
“That’s his only plan – to make you a prisoner in your home, a prisoner in your own country,” Mr Trump said in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
“Under the Biden lockdown, the recovery will be totally kill economy will crash country can’t afford.
“There’ll be no school. There’ll be no graduation. There’ll be no weddings, no thanksgiving stuff, no Christmas, no Easters, no Fourth of Julys. There’ll be nothing. We’ll be nothing.
“We will never lock down again,” he said to cheers.
Pennsylvania is firming crucial for victory for both camps, with Mr Trump spending five of his final 14 appearances there and Mr Biden spending his final two days on the hustings there.
Mr Trump narrowly took it from Hillary Clinton in his shock 2016 win by targeting its large rural population.
The state has benefited from the US energy boom of the past four years, with the Trump administration opening up its huge shale gas reserves to fracking.
He zeroed in again on Mr Biden’s previous statements that he would ban fossil fuels, which the Biden camp has since tried to walk back.
Mr Biden says that rather than banning fracking he wants to end it on federal lands.
“A vote for Biden is a vote to ban fracking, and to send your state into a nightmare of poverty and depression,” Mr Trump said.
“That’s what’s going to happen. It’s your single biggest industry by far – probably a million jobs one way or the other.”
Tension is building as poll day approaches, with several scuffles breaking out.
A heated exchange between a 13-year-old black youth and a female Trump supporter over abortion issues erupted outside a drive-in rally for Mr Biden in Detroit.
Mr Obama and singer Stevie Wonder were also in attendance at the event, but only a couple of hundred cars were allowed to attend.
A small crowd of Biden supporters were ordered to say hundreds of meters away from the rally.
The Trump supporter, Genevieve Peters, waved a Trump flag in front of about 100 Biden fans in a park near the rally.
She had verbal spats with a number of Biden supporters.
“These people are low-information voters who need to hear the truth,” she said.
“I am from the working class and Donald Trump is about the working class and creating jobs for everyone.”
Teen Jerome Barnes Jr, whose dad Jerome Sr was nearby, told two middle-aged pro-life Trump supporters: “A woman can do as she wants with her own body. A woman will have a right to choose.”
The articulate young man told News Corp later: “This president, he doesn’t care about women or Black Lives Matter, he’s in it for himself and his wealth and his friends. I believe it is time for a new generation of leadership.”
Asked why, at the age of 13, he was arguing with Republicans at a rally rather than hanging out with his friends, he replied: “I like riding my bike, but I’d like to go into politics one day.”
Military veteran Jesse Martinez also clashed with Ms Peters, telling her: “A well-respected four-star general said he is incompetent to lead our troops. I take the word of a four-star general over a coward who denied the draft. I respect the office, I don’t respect the man.”
Once again, the Biden campaign team denied the general public access to an all-star line-up despite Wonder’s status as a legendary figure in Detroit where a 35-metre high mural of him was completed last year.
The contrast between the Biden event and recent Trump rallies, where thousands of people mill outside events they cannot get into, could not have been more stark.
“Dump Trump! Dump Trump! Dump Trump!”, the small crowd chanted.
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