USA Election 2024 live online: Trump vs Harris, polls, campaign events, latest updates | fraud, odds, 47...

Nate Silver emphasizes the increasing importance of North Carolina in this election

Nate Silver, the statistician and election polling expert, released a few updates on Wednesday night about the state of the race. One focused on North Carolina's increasing importance in the presidential race. Silver believes that North Carolina will predict who will reach 270, and for Kamala Harris, winning this state dramatically increases her odds. 

The North Carolina gubernatorial race was upended a few weeks ago when sexual and offensive posts were tied to the Republican candidate Mark Robinson. Currently, Robinson serves as the state's Lieutenant Governor, and since the scandal broke, his numbers have fallen dramatically. However, just because the Democrat in that race looks like he has a clear path to victory doesn't mean the vice president will face the same fate. Plenty of voters in the state could split their tickets, voting for the GOP at the top of the ticket and the Democrats in other down-ballot races. 

How much money has Elon Musk donated this election?

Elon Musk, the tech magnate behind SpaceX and Tesla, has made a substantial $133 million contribution to America PAC, a super PAC he established to bolster Donald Trump's campaign.

One of the PAC's most contentious initiatives involves a daily $1 million cash giveaway, running until the November 5 election day. This promotion targets residents of swing states who pledge their support for the First and Second Amendments. The legality and ethics of this approach have been called into question by election law experts and political opponents alike.

More than 55 million people have already voted

According to data compiled by the University of Florida Elections Laboratory, more than 55 million people have cast ballots for the 2024 presidential election, either in person or by mail during early voting. Records show at least 29 million early votes have been cast at in-person polling places plus 25.9 million mail-in ballots. 

More than 65.6 million mail-in ballots were requested, according to NBC.

How much money is being spent on this eleection?

Billionaire campaign spending on this scale drowns out the voices and concerns of ordinary Americans. It is one of the most obvious and disturbing consequences of the growth of billionaire fortunes, as well as being a prime indicator that the system regulating campaign finance has collapsed. We need to rein in the political power of billionaire families by better taxing them and by effectively limiting their campaign donations. Until we do both, we can only expect the influence of the super-rich over our politics and government to escalate.

Billionaire support once again crucial this election

It is an open secret that the person who can fundraise the most will have the best chance of winning an election, outside of policy ideas or personal qualities.

150 billionaire families have contributed $1.9 billion in support of presidential and congressional candidates, according to a new report from Americans for Tax Fairness.

72% of this figure went to support Republicans compared with the 22% spent on Democrats.

Trump and Harris tied in Michigan

A recent poll from the Washington Post reveals a tight race in Michigan, with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump nearly even among likely voters. Harris garners 47% support, while Trump follows closely with 46%

"Both margins are within the poll’s margin of error of 3.7 percentage points, indicating either candidate could hold a lead,” the newspaper said.

US election 2024: be careful with betting odds

Bloomberg News considers the betting market for the election, with some reminders about this not being the same as the polls. There have been very questionable moves on other topics in the past.

What does the '47' sign mean at the Trump rallies?

If I told you that incumbent president Joe Biden was the 46th president in the history of the United States of America, would that scratch that itch that you've been having every time you see those signs being held up being Donald Trump at his rallies?

Yes, that's right. If he wins, he will become the 47th, adding to his 45th. Of course, if the electoral college sees Kamala Harris invited into the White House, the 47th POTUS will be historic, as the first woman will take her place.

VP Harris sends Dodgers her congrats

"Your dominant play this season brought joy to millions of fans around the world — including @SecondGentleman," the POTUS hopeful wrote.

Clearly Kamala's husband Doug is a fan of the LA team.

A reminder of the how the electoral college works

The 2024 presidential election is just a handful of days away with millions of votes already cast ahead of Nov. 5. But remember that the winner won’t be decided by the overall number of vote in their favour (the popular vote) but by a group of 538 people that make up the Electoral College.

If you don't already know how this plays out, here's a handy guide.

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Nicky Jam reveals reason for flip against Donald Trump

Celebrity endorsements can prove to be handy when it comes to influencing the masses, so losing one with over 40 million Instagram followers just days before the election isn't the best strategy.

Will Dodgers fate repeat for Trump?

As you may have heard, Los Angeles Dodgers picked up their 8th World Series title on Wednesday and some people have been quick to remember that the last time they did that was in 2020.

Garbage style for Trump

MAGA fans are loving it. Others are mocking it. What do you think about Donald Trump's decision to stay in his garbage overalls in an attempt to look slimmer?

Election fraud: what to believe

If you spend any time on social media, you'll have almost certainly come across people – generally Republicans from what we can gather – claiming election fraud is already happening.

While it's likely futile to go through and debunk each one as they appear, our advice is to make sure you find some reliable evidence to back up any claim you see or hear, as many have not only been proven to be incorrect, some are harming the lives of Americans going about their daily job.

Remember too that in 2020, all the Republican judges that had cases of fraud put in front of them could not find sufficient evidence to prosecute. A claim is not proof.

Rosario Dawson urges to watch Vigilantes Inc

Even though the 2020 US elections were deemed “the most secure in American history” that didn’t stop Trump and his surrogates from claiming that there had been widespread fraud, which were thoroughly disproven through numerous court cases and investigations, including by Trump’s own people.

However, that hasn’t stopped all of those same people from making the same fraudulent claims again in 2024. This has prompted several to sign up to be poll watchers as part of the Republican party's massive "election integrity" team.

To help people better understand what is behind this playbook, documentarians Greg Palast and David Ambrose have released Vigilantes Inc, which you can watch for free.

Trump vows to protect, “whether women like it or not”

As you can see, much of the theme already today is based around the power of the words being said by those in charge or hoping to be.

And former President Donald Trump, who has been convicted of crimes against women, is now saying that he will protect women whether they like it or not during a rally in Wisconsin Wednesday night. He went on to slip in that his advisers actually told him not to say he wants to protect women, but who needs experts in a landscape of footballification.

"I want to protect women of our country. I want to protect women serving. 'Please don't say that. 'Why?' They said, 'We think it's - we think it's very inappropriate,'" Trump said.

"I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not. I have to protect them. I'm going to protect them from immigrants coming in. I'm going to protect them from foreign countries with missiles and a lot of other things," Trump said at the rally in Green Bay.

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What football teams did VP candidate Tim Walz coach? Were they winning teams?

Did you know that the aforementioned Walz used to coach football teams? Sure you did.

Here's a brief summary of where he was preparing strategies and developing capable characters in America's youth.

Walz expresses support for Asheville post-hurricane

During his campaign trip to the hard-hit city of Asheville, North Carolina, Tim Walz emphasized his support for the community in the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene.

"You demonstrated that the spirit of Asheville is the spirit of this country. Tough, tenacious and never going down without a fight," Walz said.

Walz also said he and Harris “are not going to rest until you get all the support to rebuild this community.” He also encouraged Americans to visit and spend money in Asheville to help rebuild it.

“America, these small businesses need your support. Come down here and spend your money.”

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Did President Biden refer to Trump supporters as ‘garbage’?

Words matter. Can everyone please remember that.

Whether it's comments made by President Joe Biden during a virtual campaign event on Tuesday that sparked backlash after many online accused him of referring to Trump supporters as trash, to remarks put forward by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, who referred to the US colony of Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage, they all matter.

Especially just before an election.

Harris says she'll try to end war in Gaza as POTUS

Just minutes into Vice President Kamala Harris' speech Wednesday night at the Dane County Coliseum when some unrest broke out inside the stadium, which was filled with many students from the nearby University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Cease fire now!” one pro-Palestinian protester shouted. Some protesters held a banner that read "No fundraising for war crimes."

"We all want the war in Gaza to end," Harris said. "Everyone has a right to be heard but right now I am speaking."

She added that she would do “everything in my power” to end the Middle East conflict.

Hello and welcome to AS USA's live blog

The United States is just a handful of days away from what is being described by some as the most important Election Day in over a generation, and the campaigns are in full swing. 

Vice President Kamala Harris held a massive rally on the National Mall on Tuesday night. The main message from the candidate was the need to preserve American democracy. Over 40,000 people are thought to have been in attendance. 

Yesterday, the Trump campaign headed to North Carolina and Wisconsin (where Brett Favre joined him) and Harris continued on in Raleigh, North Carolina, in the morning, before heading to Wisconsin, joined by the band Mumford and Sons for a rally in Madison.

It doesn't stop for them and that means it doesn't stop for us. We'll keep you up-to-date with all that's going on. So let's get to it...