USA elections 2020: Trump - Biden | Summary of 1 november
US elections latest: headlines
- Record number of Americans turn out to vote
- Biden still ahead in polls
- Trump rallies led to more than 700 Covid-19 deaths, study estimates
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Moon rises over American flags
This photo was captured by Branden Camp at President Trump's rally in Rome, Georgia. Georgia normally a Republican stronghold has this year become a toss-up as record numbers of voters go to the polls.
Big names to attend Biden and Harris Election Day Eve campaign events
Lady Gaga and John Legend will be attending respectively Joe Biden and Kamala Harris drive-in rallies the night before Election Day. Both rallies will take place in Pennsylvania seen as key to winning the 2020 presidential race.
Big turnout for North Carolina Trump rally
The President will land in Hickory, North Carolina in the coming minutes as he continues his whistle-stop tour in the final days of campaigning. His is not the only major visit though, Joe BIden's running mate Kamala Harris is scheduled to be in North Carolina later today.
Early voting has been particularly high in North Carolina with over 80% of the total turnout for 2016 having already cast their vote. A recent poll by Insider Counting had Trump four points ahead of Biden but it is a state that the President cannot afford to lose having won by a comfortable margin in 2016. It is seen as one of the swingiest of all the swing states but actually voted Republican in 2012 when Mitt Romney faced President Barack Obama.
Trump supporters shut down New Jersey highway
After widespread reports of Republican-supporting vehicles surrounding and intimidated the Biden-Harris campaign bus footage in recent days more videos has been posted on social media showing the Garden State Parkway at a standstill.
The convoy seems to mainly consist of pickup trucks with Trump-Pence flags clearly visible. In New York today Trump supporters used their vehicles to close off the Mario Cuomo Bridge, which connects the city to upstate areas.
Reports of shootings in Kansas over political yard signs
13 News of Topeka, Kansas has reported that three people were shot over the weekend due to confrontations over yard signs expressing support to President Donald Trump.
Details are sketchy at the moment but police are said to received reports of a man confronting people about previous thefts of sings supporting the Trump campaign, according to local newspapers. A victim has been taken to hospital in a condition described as life-threatening, while another two victims have since admitted themselves into hospital in connection to the incident.
Despite the limited details at the moment, it does appear to be further evidence of the mounting distrust between opposing support and confirms some suggestions that the outcome of this election could spark political violence. In October 13 men were arrested by the FBI in connection to a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan and teenager Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged with double homicide for the killing of two people during unrest in Wisconsin in September.
Iowan Trump supporters warmed up with a redition of 'Fortunate Son'
Irony reported dead in Dubuque, Iowa as supporters of President Donald Trump are treated to 'Fortunate Son' by Creedence Clearwater Revival on the PA system. The chorus to that particular song?
"It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no millionaire's son, no no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no"
Trump, who became president of his father's New York real estate company in 1971 at the age of 25, addressed the crowd on Sunday afternoon. He promised to "mass-produce the vaccine in a few short weeks and eradicate the virus, wiping out the China plague". Last week, Dr Anthony Fauci told the BBC that the vaccine would not be widely available until "several months into 2021".
Texas Supreme Court throws out Republicans' request to throw out votes
Several Republicans activists had launched a last-gasp appeal to see 127,000 drive-in votes cast in Harris County, Texas thrown out. The plaintiffs contended that the decision to allow residents to vote from their car, during a pandemic that has caused over 18,000 deaths in that state alone, was unconstitutional.
Usually drive-in voting is only extended to residents who have some kind of disability or medical condition that makes traditional in-person voting difficult. Understandably, this was expanded for the 2020 presidential election.
This appeal was the second such attempt by Republicans to disrupt proceedings and was again dismissed by the court without a formal explanation. As The Texas Tribune reports, drive-thru ballots account for about 10% of all in-person ballots cast during early voting in Harris County.
Axios: Trump plans to claim victory on election night
A new story has just broken suggesting that the President has told close advisors that he intends to publically claim a win if it looks like he is "ahead" on Tuesday evening. The article is written by Jonathan Swain, the journalist who pressed Trump on his coronavirus response in an interview in August.
The article continues: "Trump has privately talked through this scenario in some detail in the last few weeks, describing plans to walk up to a podium on election night and declare he has won."
Due to the likely delays in counting some mail-in ballots (a method generally favoured by Democrat supporters) the President may well appear to be leading on election night. If the postal votes in particularly close states like Pennsylvania then tip the balance in Biden's favour after days of counting, the report claims that Trump will contest the election on the grounds of vote fraud. For context, in 2016 it took nearly a month for the final nation-wide vote count to be confirmed.
In response to the allegations, the Trump campaign's communications director Tim Murtaugh said, "This is nothing but people trying to create doubt about a Trump victory. When he wins, he's going to say so."
“We believe Mr. Trump, for all his faults, is the better choice this year. We respect and understand those who feel otherwise. We wish that we could be more enthusiastic and we hope the president can become more dignified and statesmanlike. Each American must make up his or her own mind and do what he or she thinks is best for the community and the republic. Vote your conscience. And, whatever happens, believe in the country."
Ohio on the agenda for Biden
A recent update from Joe Biden's campaign has revealed that the former Vice President will visit Ohio on Monday as part of his final push. He will be in Cleveland, Ohio to speak to supporters about "the crises facing the country and winning the battle for the soul of the nation".
The last-minute addition to Biden's schedule tells us a lot about the Democrats' confidence going into the home stretch. Donald Trump won Ohio by eight points in 2016 but Team Biden clearly feel they have a chance of flipping it this time around.
Interestingly, Ohio has the longest current run of selecting the winning presidential candidate, returning a vote for the last 12 winners. There have been seven Republican victories and five for the Democrats during that run, which stretches back to 1972, so a win there would bode very well for Biden.
Late Republican surge could secure Trump win, says YouGov poll
With Joe Biden seemingly ahead in a number of crucial polls, just how close is this election likely to be? Well it could be extremely close, according to a new YouGov poll that suggests that a surge of late Republican turnout could be enough to swing the race in the President's favour.
Their study found that Joe Biden supporters have been much more proactive with early voting but Republicans tend to turn out on Election Day, meaning that if Donald Trump can maximise his support he is more than capable of winning a second term. It's very much still in the balance, as CBS News puts it: "Biden has a lead, but we still don't know how long the track is".
Their 'surge scenario' shows how Trump could fail to win the hotly-contested northern states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan yet still notch up 279 Electoral College votes and clinch victory.
Battleground state of Iowa prepares for Election Day
Iowa could be one of the most crucial of the swing states this election and one resident has made their feelings clear ahead of President Trump's arrival today. This massive mural to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was photographed in Dubuque, Iowa where Trump is scheduled to hold a rally later today.
A recent poll published by Des Moines Register/Selzer and Co. found that Trump is currently ahead amongst Iowa's likely voters. The poll has the President on 48% with Democratic nominee Joe Biden on 41%. Now, Iowa is far from essential for Biden to emerge the victor but his team may be worried that, on this evidence, he is not improving on Hillary Clinton's performance four years ago.
How will the presidential election affect unemployment benefits in the US?
How will the elections affect U.S. unemployment benefits?
Negotiations for a second Covid-19 economic relief package are on hold and the $600 weekly payments have stopped. What will Trump and Biden do if elected?
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How could the U.S. elections affect a new round of second stimulus checks?
How could the election affect a new round of second stimulus checks?
Many Americans are hopeful that new stimulus relief will be approved after this week's presidential election to help them get through the winter months.
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USPS experiencing delays with postal votes still coming in
The U.S. Postal Service has been struggling to cope with delivering first-class mail. In Detroit, the on-time delivery rate was 77.2% while in Philadelphia, the on-time rate was just 55.82%. The USPS says it has processed and delivered 122 million election ballots so far and that the average time of delivery for first-class mail, including ballots, was "2.5 days with 97.5% of all measured first-class mail delivered within five days across the country."
Early votes top 92,000,000 by Saturday night
Total Early Votes: 92,038,417 • In-Person Votes: 33,141,215 • Mail Ballots Returned: 58,897,202 • Mail Ballots Outstanding: 32,303,784
Biden leading Trump in four key states
Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in the four states likeliest to decide the presidency, according to the final Times/Siena surveys.
Arizona: Biden 49%, Trump 43% (+6)
Florida: Biden 47%, Trump 44% (+3)
Pennsylvania.: Biden 49%, Trump 43% (+6)
Wisconsin: Biden 52%, Trump 42% (+11)
Trump and Joni Ernst lead in Iowa
President Donald Trump and Senator Joni Ernst have opened up leads in their respective races in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register’s pre-election poll. Trump is leading Joe Biden in the state by 7 percentage points, with 48 percent support from likely voters to Biden's 41 percent. The results show a jump in support for the president from September's Iowa Poll, which showed the candidates tied at 47 percent.
Why Donald Trump cannot afford to lose 3 November election
No U.S. president has ever been charged with a criminal offence. But Donald Trump and those around him will surely know that if he loses this week's presidential election, he will also lose the immunity that he has been accustomed to during his tenure. Trump has a long-running dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over claims of tax dodging and could face prosecution if he fails to be reelected.
Trump rallies linked to over 700 Covid-19 deaths
A study by Stanford University has linked 30,000 coronavirus infections and more than 700 deaths to areas where U.S. president Donald Trump staged rallies between June and September. The report examined the spread of coronavirus following 18 rallies which many people attended without wearing face masks. Fifteen of those 18 events were held outdoors.
"Our analysis strongly supports the warnings and recommendations of public health officials concerning the risk of Covid-19 transmission at large group gatherings, particularly when the degree of compliance with guidelines concerning the use of masks and social distancing is low. The communities in which Trump rallies took place paid a high price in terms of disease and death," the report noted.
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Some states will have vote results in earlier than others
It is highly likely that we won’t know who won the presidential election on election night itself - partly because more people have voted by mail and mail ballots generally take longer to count than normal ballots. Some states estimate that they will have most of the results in just a few hours but others will take longer. Arizona and North Carolina will release the vast majority of their ballots very quickly but counting is expected to take much longer in Michigan and Pennsylvania - maybe an extra day or two.
Europe edging away from United States, regardless of election winner
European leaders have started planning for life after the U.S. elections and are looking to become less dependent on the United States, regardless of whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden is voted in as president, the Washington Post reports.
Live US elections updates: welcome
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the run-up to the 2020 presidential and congressional elections in the United States.
There are now just a few days to go until Election Day on 3 November, which will see President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden go head to head for the White House - although a record total of more than 70 million Americans have already voted.