Late Donald Trump surge in battleground blitz
Donald Trump has made a last-minute surge in battleground states, raising his hopes of a come-from-behind victory against Joe Biden.
Donald Trump has made a last- minute surge in battleground states, raising his hopes of a come-from-behind victory against Joe Biden in Wednesday’s US election (AEDT).
The President’s blitz of back-to-back rallies across the country in the final days appeared to be paying off as he reduced Mr Biden’s lead in battleground states to an average of just 2.86 points, his best result since April.
But the former vice-president still holds the advantage as both candidates make their final pitch to voters, with Mr Biden holding a shrinking but still solid lead of 6.7 per cent nationally.
Mr Trump told supporters at Fayetteville, North Carolina, that the polls were fake and that he would end up winning again like in 2016.
“We are going to win, we are looking tremendous in Florida, we are really looking good all over, there are the real polls, not these Fox polls,” Mr Trump said.
He said “hidden voters” would emerge in massive numbers on election day to vote him back into office. “We are going to win the whole thing and we will send a signal like you’ve never seen before,” he said.
There are growing fears of civil unrest on election night and in the days that follow, especially if the result is contested. Downtown businesses in Washington and in many US cities have boarded up their front windows, while the National Guard has been placed on standby across the country, ready to step in and quell any street violence.
It came as the President crisscrossed the country on the final day of campaigning, holding five rallies in four states, each overflowing with supporters, as he sought to catch his 77-year-old challenger.
Mr Trump campaigned in North Carolina and in the Rust Belt battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
In Pennsylvania he held a rally in Scranton, where Mr Biden was born, as he targeted working- and middle-class white voters who abandoned Democrats for Mr Trump four years ago.
Mr Biden spent his final day of the campaign in Philadelphia and Ohio, ending it in Pittsburgh in an event featuring pop star Lady Gaga.
Pennsylvania, with its 20 electoral college votes, has become the prime focus of the candidates, with both seeing the Keystone State, which voted narrowly for Mr Trump in 2016, as their best path to the presidency.
Mr Biden leads in Pennsylvania by just 2.6 points, similar to the lead in that state held by Hillary Clinton on the eve of the 2016 election. “Pennsylvanians who haven’t voted yet — we need every one of you to vote,” Mr Biden implored at a drive-in car rally in Philadelphia. “Pennsylvania is critical to this election.”
The Biden campaign made a late announcement on Tuesday that he would visit his hometown of Scranton on election day to try to get out the vote and win the state.
In battleground states, Mr Biden leads Mr Trump in Florida by 1.7 points, Arizona (0.9), Michigan (5.1) and Wisconsin (6.7). Mr Trump has edged ahead in North Carolina by 0.2 points, Iowa (1.4), Ohio (1.4) and Georgia (0.2).
Mr Biden used his final events to argue that Mr Trump has mishandled the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and has divided the nation with divisive rhetoric.
He criticised Mr Trump’s suggestion that he might sack infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci after the election.
“President Trump said he would fire Dr Fauci; isn’t that wonderful?" Mr Biden said. “I’ve got a better idea, elect me and I’m going to hire Dr Fauci and fire Donald Trump.
“Tomorrow we have an opportunity to put an end to a presidency that has divided this nation.
“Tomorrow we can put an end to a president who has failed to protect this nation.
“We’re done with the chaos, we’re done with the tweets, the anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility.”
Mr Trump used his final rallies to argue that a Biden administration would threaten American jobs, values and freedoms.
He said in Fayetteville that if Mr Biden won “the radical left will gain power, they will collapse our economy and send our nation into depression”.
“Biden will send your jobs overseas, destroy your suburbs (and) indoctrinate your children with anti-American lies,” Mr Trump said.
He described Mr Biden as “a corrupt politician” whose family had become rich through dodgy foreign business deals.
“We catch them stealing millions of dollars and they (the media) refuse to write a story,” he said.
In Scranton, Mr Trump attacked Mr Biden on energy policies, saying they would be “an economic death sentence for Pennsylvania”.
“Biden’s energy shutdown will wipe out your jobs, decimate your towns, eliminate your factories and send your state into a nightmare of crippling poverty,” he said.
The President has warned that he is ready to mount legal challenges to the election result if he suspects fraud. He has threatened legal action to challenge results if states such as Pennsylvania count mail votes that arrive after election day.
But the Biden campaign said such threats were hollow.
“Under no scenario will Donald Trump be declared a victor on election night,” Biden campaign director Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said.
“When Donald Trump says that ballots counted after midnight should be invalidated, he’s just making that up.
“There is no historical precedent that any of our elections have ever run and been counted and completely verified on election night. We do not expect that to happen in 2020.”
In an opinion piece for Fox News, Mr Biden focused his attack on the pandemic and the economy.
“Across our nation today, there are nearly 230,000 empty chairs at dining room tables, where just weeks or months ago loved ones sat and talked and laughed. There are 30 million Americans feeling the sting of a lost job or lost wages — 10 million who’ve had the peace of mind of health coverage taken away,” he wrote.
A record 93 million votes have already been cast by mail or in-person — about two-thirds of the total vote in 2016.
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia
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