With just over two weeks to go until the 2024 presidential election, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are hitting the campaign trail in strategic states, US media reported.
Trump made three stops in North Carolina on Monday, including a tour of storm damage in Asheville. Harris is seeking to bring suburban voters to his side in key battleground states in the Midwest – Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – and is teaming up with former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney.
During one of several stops Monday in North Carolina, Trump urged supporters in the hurricane-ravaged mountains to go to the polls despite the challenges they face.
With opinion polls showing a close race, both candidates are building momentum and their frenzied campaign schedules highlight the importance of small groups of voters who can put one candidate over the top.
Trump ended his day at an evangelical Christian event in Concord, North Carolina, telling the crowd that he likes to think he was saved by “the hand of a supernatural being bringing him to the ground” during a failed assassination attempt on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The state of Pennsylvania makes a difference
After appearances in Detroit and Atlanta surrounded by stars, Vice President Harris also arrived in Pennsylvania.
That state, with its 19 electoral votes, will be crucial to victory on November 5. Franklin & Marshall College polling director Burwood Yost, said:
“Pennsylvania is the state that secured victory for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. It has a lot of white working-class voters. It has large urban centres and rural communities. So in many ways, Pennsylvania serves as a microcosm of the entire country.”
In the last two presidential races, the result in 13-million-strong Pennsylvania has been decided by margins of just tens of thousands of votes.
Voters in the US will go to the polls on November 5 to choose the next president. With polls showing that this state is once again tied, it could be the state that decides the election.
According to polls, Trump and Harris have roughly equal chances of winning. The outcome of the race for the White House will be decided in seven swing states.
