Trump, Harris make their final campaign rounds, millions vote early

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris appeared on the “Saturday Night Live” TV comedy show on Saturday, adding a surprise jolt to the US presidential election just three days before her showdown with Republican Donald Trump.

“Keep Calm-ala and carry on-ala,” Mrs Harris said in unison with the actor who plays her on the show, Maya Rudolph.

It was Mrs Harris’ first time on the show, which has had other presidential candidates over its decades-long run.

Mr Trump appeared during his first presidential bid in 2015, where he poked fun at his tendency to exaggerate and avoid policy specifics.

He also appeared in 2004, long before he entered politics.

A Trump aide said he didn’t know if he had been invited to appear this year.

Earlier on Saturday, Mrs Harris and Mr Trump’s planes shared the tarmac in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the two candidates held duelling events in the southern state, one of a handful that will determine the outcome of Tuesday’s election.

It was the fourth day in a row that the candidates campaigned in the same state.

Only seven states are seen as truly competitive, but a poll released on Saturday showed Mrs Harris holding a surprise lead in Iowa, a state Mr Trump won easily in the last two elections.

Mr Trump and Mrs Harris stuck to familiar themes during their appearances.

Mr Trump said he would deport millions of immigrants if elected and warned that if Mrs Harris wins, “Every town in America would be turned into a squalid, dangerous refugee camp.”

Campaigning in Atlanta, Mrs Harris said Mr Trump would abuse his power if he returned to the White House.

“This is someone who is increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and the man is out for unchecked power,” she said.

More than 75 million Americans have already cast ballots, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida, in a sign of voter enthusiasm.

In North Carolina, the western counties that were devastated by Hurricane Helene appeared to be voting at roughly the same rate as the rest of the state, according to Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer.

At a later rally in Salem, Virginia, Mr Trump said he ran for office to rescue the economy from “obliteration” even though it would have been easier to relax at one of his oceanfront resorts.

“I didn’t need to be here today,” he said. “I could have been standing on that beach, my beautiful white skin getting nice and being smacked, being smacked in the face by a wave loaded up with salt water.”

Mr Trump was joined on stage by women from a local college swim team who have objected to competing against transgender athletes.

Some of Mr Trump’s TV ads have sought to capitalise on transgender controversies.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has surpassed Donald Trump in a new poll in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released on Saturday. Women voters are likely responsible for the turnaround in a state that Mr Trump easily won in 2016 and 2020.
The poll of 808 likely voters, who were surveyed Oct. 28-31, has Mrs Harris leading Mr Trump 47 per cent – 44 per cent in Iowa, which has been trending deeply Republican in recent years.

READ ALSO: Spanish Floods: Death toll rises to 211, woman rescued after three days in car

It is within the 3.4 percentage point margin of error, but it marked a turnaround from a September Iowa Poll that had Mr Trump with a four-point lead, the newspaper reported.

“The poll shows that women — particularly those who are older or who are politically independent — are driving the late shift toward Harris,” the Register said.

Mr Trump’s senior adviser, Jason Miller, said the Iowa poll was “idiotic” and an outlier that has no credibility.

(Reuters/NAN)