#USElection2024: Harris, Trump seek to be America’s next president

Millions of Americans are heading to the polls to vote for their next president. Election Day voting began as early as 5 a.m. on Tuesday and will continue to as late as 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump each need at least 270 electoral votes to win the contest.

CNN reports that the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are expected to be pivotal to the path to victory.

Last night, the candidates held their final campaign events in battleground states. Mrs Harris ended her 107-day campaign in Pennsylvania, while former President Trump spoke in Michigan, where he has ended three of his presidential campaigns (2016, 2020, and 2024).

Several polls show that the Democratic candidate and Republican are going head-to-head in a race that remains too close to call.

In his final rally, Mr Trump argued that his real opponent was not Vice President Kamala Harris but an evil Democrat system.

“We will defeat the corrupt system in Washington. Because I’m not running against Kamala, I’m running against an evil Democrat system. These are evil people,” Mr Trump said.

“The silent majority is back and tomorrow you need to get out and vote,”

“This has been an incredible journey. And it’s very sad in a way, because, you know, we’ve done all these, and this is the last one, but here’s the good news, all we were doing is putting ourselves in a position to win, which we can do tomorrow very easily if we show up,” CNN quoted the former president as saying.

Ms Harris, meanwhile, ended her campaign with a pledge to “turn the page on a decade of politics that has been driven by fear and division.”

“America is ready for a fresh start,” Ms Harris added. “Ready for a new way forward where we see our fellow American, not as an enemy, but as a neighbour.”

The promise of a “new generation of leadership” has been threaded throughout her campaign, usually implied but as Election Day neared, it was delivered in increasingly explicit terms. President Joe Biden dropped out from the election to endorse Ms Harris in July.

Stance on key issues

In terms of the economy, Vice President Harris repeatedly said she wants to cut taxes for working and middle-class people and place a federal ban on price gouging for groceries. On the other hand, Mr Trump wants to cut government spending, bolster the trade war with other economies and increase tariffs on foreign goods as part of his protectionist economic policy.

Mrs Harri’s stance on immigration is to bring “comprehensive reform”, supporting a border security bill, increased security guards and more legal immigration.

Republicans said the immigration system is “broken” and Mr Trump has exaggerated the number of immigrants entering the US. The former president wants to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, deploy troops on the border with Mexico and end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents.

Meanwhile, in terms of abortion rights, Ms Harris wants to prevent the national abortion ban from becoming solidified into law, while Mr Trump considers abortion a state-level issue, but says he will not sign a national abortion ban.

On foreign policy (Israel’s war on Gaza, Ukraine war, China): Ms Harris said she wants an end to the war in Gaza, but reiterates Israel’s “right to self-defence.” She backs the Biden administration’s stance on Ukraine.

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She supports “Taiwan’s ability to defend itself” against China and is against detaching from China economically, according to an Al Jazeera report.

In this regard, Mr Trump has been critical of the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy and has called for an end to the war. He has also not committed additional aid to Ukraine. Like Mrs Harris, he stands with Israel and says he wants to end the war in Gaza. The 45th American president wants to secure strategic independence from China but also wants a good relationship with Beijing.