Endgame

On the Campaign Trail

U.S. Elections 2024

By James Oliphant, national political correspondent

A presidential race that's a dead heat. An electorate more polarized than ever. The prospect of post-election chaos and even perhaps violence.

That's where America finds itself less than a week before Election Day, a country on edge as voters are being asked to choose between two radically different paths forward.

Latest election headlines

Up for grabs

Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump have been crisscrossing the country down the stretch, holding packed rallies in competitive states and stoking enthusiasm among their respective bases in a race polls show is up for grabs.

I'm James Oliphant, and I've been traveling with Trump for much of the past two weeks as he swung to the Western states and back. Most of his rallies continue to run as long as two hours, which may be a testament to his stamina if not his efficiency.

He has exhibited a characteristic inability to stay on message. Though Trump often criticizes the Biden administration's handling of the economy, which polls show is the issue of greatest voter concern, he also takes frequent rhetorical flights of fancy. (Rocket ships! Whales! Paper clips!) He traffics in dark imagery and plays his favorite songs. He brings guests on stage. (On Saturday, it was the Penn State University wrestling team.) He seems to want to milk every moment of what he says is his final White House run. The rallies can feel like part-presidential campaign, part-pop star farewell tour.

Where Trump continues to fire up his most loyal supporters, Harris is attempting to stitch together a rather unwieldy coalition, one that stretches from young progressives on the left to moderate Republicans who dislike Trump. She has oscillated between ridiculing Trump as a boor and warning that he's an existential threat to democracy and, as she put it, "a petty tyrant." At this late date, she's still playing catch-up and trying to introduce herself to voters.

Harris has rolled out celebrity endorsers such as Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen in the final stretch, while Trump has the world's richest person, Elon Musk, stumping in Pennsylvania and drawing the ire of local law enforcement as he hands out cash.

Not everything has gone according to plan.

Trump's signature event at New York's Madison Square Garden was marred by a warm-up act who told racist jokes about Latinos at the very time when Trump needs their votes. Harris' dramatic address on the Ellipse in Washington was undercut by President Joe Biden calling one or some Trump supporters "garbage" on a Zoom call. (Biden denied he meant "all" supporters but not before his comment streaked across social media.)

Reuters correspondents have fanned out across the battleground states ahead of Tuesday, exploring the sentiments among voters who have their minds made up and those who are still on the fence.

Our reporting team will be watching for attempts to disrupt the vote counts in precincts and counties in the days ahead. We're not likely to know who the winner is on Nov. 5 or even the day after. In 2020, it took four days. Voting-rights advocates hope the vote count goes more quickly this time around, but no one really knows what next week will bring.

Get some rest. Hydrate. Feed the cat. Take a walk. Buckle up. Here we go.

Poll of the week

Fact check of the week

Misinformation about ballot tampering and voter fraud rampant in the weeks leading up to Election Day was reminiscent of elections past.

A years-old video of a ballot tabulation center in Arizona showing a routine process was falsely shared as officials deleting election results.

A Pennsylvania monastery said it might pursue legal action after a Republican canvasser alleged its address was fraudulently used by voters who do not live there.

Markings, such as initials of poll workers, do not automatically invalidate ballots.

And no, ranked-choice voting does not mean ballots in Maine will be counted more than once.

In this section, the Reuters fact-checking team addresses misinformation connected to the U.S. elections. Find more fact-checks from around the world here.

The view from Brussels

Europe is watching the U.S. election closely, concerned that a Trump victory might mean a withdrawal of support for Ukraine that would embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and a reconsideration of the United States' role in NATO.

Photo from the trail

Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is displayed on a screen as she delivers a speech, on the National Mall, one week before the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, in Washington, U.S., October 29, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

What to watch for

Oct. 31: Harris campaigns in Nevada and Arizona, with performances by Mana and Los Tigres del Norte; Trump campaigns in New Mexico and Nevada, then is interviewed live by Tucker Carlson in Arizona
Nov. 1: Trump campaigns in Michigan and Wisconsin; Harris campaigns in Wisconsin
Nov. 2: Harris campaigns in Georgia and North Carolina; Trump campaigns in North Carolina and Virginia

The who, what and when

Find up-to-date elections coverage, interactive data and more on Reuters.com.

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