Trump, Harris lean on traditional bases eight days before US vote

 

A nail-biting US presidential campaign heads into its final week Monday, with polls showing little daylight between the two candidates as they ramp up appeals to their respective bases to turn out and vote.

More than 41 million Americans have already cast early ballots ahead of Election Day on 5 November, in what is expected to be one of the tightest elections of modern times.

Outgoing President Joe Biden will join them in casting his own vote Monday, the White House said.

On the campaign trail, both candidates return to key battleground states, with Democrat Kamala Harris heading to Michigan, where she faces opposition from Arab Americans outraged over US support for Israel.

Republican Donald Trump, 78, will head to Georgia, where he will address a gathering of pastors and faith leaders before holding a rally.

The trips come after Harris, 60, spent Sunday going neighbourhood to neighbourhood in Philadelphia, in must-win Pennsylvania, with stops at a Black church and Puerto Rican restaurant.

“The election is here, and the choice, Philly, is truly in your hands,” the Democrat said, in her 14^th trip to the state since Biden dropped out of the race in July.

Former president Trump packed a crowd into New York’s famed Madison Square Garden arena on Sunday, where — stoking tensions on immigration — speakers made crude remarks about Latinos and advisor Stephen Miller declared “America is for Americans, and Americans only”. — AFP