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US election: 9 days left – What polls say, what Harris and Trump are up to

US election: 9 days left – What polls say, what Harris and Trump are up to

With nine days left to go until Election Day in the United States, the two top contenders for the White House – Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump – continue to scramble for votes in battleground states as polls suggest a tight race. On Saturday, Trump made a bold play for Arab-American and Muslim voters in Michigan, a swing state with nearly 400,000 voters of Arab background. Michigan voted for Biden in 2020, but anger over Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the war on Lebanon could affect the Democratic turnout for Harris. Michigan is one of the seven competitive US states likely to decide the winner. It is part of the “Blue Wall” that is considered Democrats’ best chance of electing Harris, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Harris also campaigned in Michigan on Saturday, warning that Trump would exercise “unchecked and extreme power” if he returns to the White House. What are the latest updates from the polls? A poll released by the Emerson College Polling on Saturday has Harris and Trump tied at 49 percent each. The survey, conducted on October 23-24, suggested a tighter race than a week earlier, which showed Harris leading Trump 49 percent to 48 percent. It is also the first time since August in Emerson’s weekly polling that Harris is not in the lead. “Male voters are breaking for Trump by 13 points, 55 percent to 42 percent, a larger margin than in 2020, while women break for Harris by 10 points, 54 percent to 44 percent, underperforming Biden’s support in 2020,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling. The latest survey also found that regardless of who they will vote for, 50 percent of American voters think Trump will win the election while 49 percent think so for Harris. The polling also listed the top issues for voters are the economy at 45 percent, followed by immigration (14 percent), threats to democracy (14 percent), abortion access (7 percent), healthcare (6 percent), and crime (4 percent). Meanwhile, the latest FiveThirtyEight’s daily average showed Harris leading in the national polls, 47.9 to Trump’s 46.6. According to the same polling, Harris’s unfavourable rating edged up to 47.8 percent, while her favourable rating was at 46.4 percent. Trump’s unfavourable rating was at 52.1 percent while his favourable rating was at 43.4 percent. What was Kamala Harris up to on Saturday? Harris was in Michigan, where former First Lady Michelle Obama fired up the crowd of Democratic supporters by drawing distinctions between Harris and Trump on personal character and qualifications, saying there was a double standard in how the two were being treated. Obama warned that another term under Trump would result in further rollbacks to abortion rights. She said Trump’s promise to rescind the Affordable Care Act passed during her husband’s presidency would affect the “entirety of women’s health, all of it”. Michelle Obama speaks at a campaign rally for Harris in Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 26, 2024 [Jacquelyn Martin/AP] Harris was several minutes into an upbeat address when she was interrupted by a demonstrator who repeatedly yelled, “No more Gaza war.” After Harris’s supporters shouted down the interruption, she responded, “On the topic of Gaza, we must end that war”, then picked up where she left off, asking voters to “turn the page on the fear and the divisiveness”. What was Donald Trump up to on Saturday? Also campaigning in Michigan, Trump met a group of Muslim preachers, arguing that he deserved the support of Muslim voters because he would end conflicts and bring peace to the Middle East. Trump fully backs Israel and has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do what you have to do” in dealing with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Even so, Trump appears to be gaining support from some Muslim Americans upset with President Joe Biden’s and Harris’s policy in Gaza, and despite Trump banning immigration from some Muslim-majority countries as president. Imam Belal Alzuhairi of the Islamic Center of Detroit joined Trump on stage in Novi, saying, “We ask Muslims to stand with President Trump because he promises peace.” During the same appearance, however, Trump also denigrated Detroit while trying to appeal to the suburban votes. “I think Detroit and some of our areas make us a developing nation,” he said, adding that people want him to say Detroit is “great”, but he thinks it “needs help”. What’s next for the Harris and Trump campaigns? According to her campaign, Harris is spending all of Sunday in Philadelphia, crisscrossing the city in a series of neighbourhood events to turn out voters. Turnout in Philadelphia could be the determining factor in whether Harris can carry the critical state of Pennsylvania, which carries 19 electoral votes. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, Harris’s full-day tour will focus on predominantly Black and Latino neighbourhoods of the Democrat-leaning city. Harris is scheduled to attend services on Sunday morning and deliver remarks at a Black church in West Philadelphia. She will also visit a barbershop in West Philadelphia for a conversation with young Black men and community leaders. Meanwhile, Trump will take the stage at one of the country’s most iconic venues, hosting a hometown rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden to deliver his campaign’s closing message against Harris. Trump was born and raised in Queens in New York City. He also built his real estate career in the city. While some Democrats and TV pundits have questioned Trump’s decision to hold what they dismiss as vanity events, the rally in the Democrat-leaning New York guarantees Trump what he most craves: the spotlight, wall-to-wall coverage and a national audience. “It’s the New York, but it’s also, you know, it’s MSG, it’s Madison Square Garden,” Trump said during a recent radio interview. “Guys like you and I, that means a lot, those words. Madison Square Garden, right? Don’t you think so? … It’s a very big stop.” Trump will be joined at the rally by supporters including

Trump preps for massive campaign rally Sunday at New York City’s Madison Square Garden

Trump preps for massive campaign rally Sunday at New York City’s Madison Square Garden

Former President Donald Trump will hold a massive campaign rally in New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday, – just nine days before voters cast their ballots.  The event, which was first-come, first-serve, sold out within hours of being announced.  The 19,500-seat venue is home of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers.  The Trump campaign says the program includes political icons, celebrities, musical artists, and friends and family of former President Trump who will all discuss how he is “the best choice to fix everything that Kamala Harris broke.” ELON MUSK, DANA WHITE TO APPEAR AT ‘HISTORIC’ TRUMP MSG RALLY “This epic event, in the heart of President Trump’s home city, will be a showcase of the historic political movement that President Trump has built in the final days of the campaign,” the campaign said in a press release.  Elon Musk and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White will attend the rally Sunday.  Musk has already hit the campaign trail for Trump, delivering a memorable speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this month, when the former president returned to the same site where an assassination attempt was made on his life on July 13.  White, who has been a close friend of Trump for years and played a role in him reestablishing the mixed martial arts company in the early 2000s, introduced the former president at this year’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, telling the crowd the stakes have never been higher. Other notable attendees this Sunday include former Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, political commentator Tucker Carlson and former Democrat presidential nominee turned Republican Tulsi Gabbard.  High-profile names from the political world include Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance, Speaker Mike Johnson, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. TRUMP TO HOLD RALLY AT NEW YORK’S MADISON SQUARE GARDEN AHEAD OF ELECTION DAY Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump as well as the former president’s sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. will also feature. From the music world, Death Row Records founder Michael Harris Jr. is set to appear, as will singer Lee Greenwood and opera singer Christopher Macchio. The Garden hosted the Republican National Convention (RNC) in 2004 and the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in 1924, 1976, 1980 and 1992.  Then-President Ronald Reagan, in his 1984 re-election landslide, was the last Republican to carry New York in a White House race. “We’re making a play for New Jersey. We’re making a play for Virginia,” Trump said at a rally earlier this month, before adding that he’s also aiming to compete in Minnesota and New Mexico. Earlier this year, during a campaign stop at an Upper Manhattan bodega, Trump said he would “straighten out New York.”  “We’re going to come in — number one, you have to stop crime, and we’re going to let the police do their job. They have to be given back their authority. They have to be able to do their job,” Trump said. “And we’re going to come into New York. We’re making a big play for New York, other cities, too. But this city, I love this city.”  This will be Trump’s second big rally in the state of New York.  Trump held a rally at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, last month. More than 60,000 tickets were requested, far exceeding the venue’s 16,000-seat capacity. Thousands of supporters who were not admitted to the venue watched him speak on large screens outside.  TRUMP ADVISER UNPACKS WHY FORMER PRESIDENT IS HOLDING RALLY IN DEEP-BLUE STATE WEEKS FROM ELECTION Trump also held a rally in the Bronx over the summer at Crotona Park, which had a permit allowance of 3,500 people. The New York Post reported the Bronx rally drew up to 10,000 supporters.  Meanwhile, more than 20,000 people attended his second rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend.  The campaign also said they saw more than 100,000 people at the former president’s rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, in May.  Trump previously said New York has “gotten so bad in the last three years, four years.”  “And we’re going to straighten New York out. So running for president, we’re putting a big hit in New York — we could win New York,” Trump said. While it is unlikely deep blue New York flips red in the White House race, another rally in the state may help Republicans down the ballot as they try to hold on to their House of Representatives majority in November’s elections. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Experts predict Supreme Court likely to stay out of 2024 presidential election

Experts predict Supreme Court likely to stay out of 2024 presidential election

Election lawyers and experts say it is unlikely the U.S. Supreme Court will take up an election-related case after Nov. 5, let alone cast the deciding vote. “It’s got to be super, super close,” Jason Torchinsky, partner at Holtzman Vogel, told Fox News Digital. “If you look at the history of post-election litigation, the only places where it has been successfully outcome-determinative really are in places where the vote is just super close.” “If there’s a real issue, the Court will take it. If it’s something that the Court doesn’t think merits a higher-level view, then they’ll summarily affirm,” Torchinsky said.  Congress amended the Electoral Count Reform Act in 2022 (ECRA) which expedites potential litigation and specifying that the vice president’s role during the joint session is “ministerial in nature.”  ‘IDEOLOGICAL BALANCE’: SUPREME COURT’S CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY TO STAY NO MATTER WHO WINS ELECTION, EXPERTS SAY The statute says “any action brought by an aggrieved candidate for President or Vice President” will be heard by a district court with a three-judge panel. It is then “the duty of the court to advance on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible extent the disposition of the action.”  HARRIS ENTERTAINS SUPREME COURT-PACKING QUESTION DURING TOWN HALL, SUPPORTS ‘SOME KIND OF REFORM’ Parties are then allowed to directly request review of the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on an expedited basis.  “It does kind of create a new route into the federal court for a specific limited set of issues being raised under the Electoral Count Act,” said Greg Teufle, founder of OGC Law. “There are very limited issues that can be raised under that Act, though. So it’s not a broad expansion or increase in the likelihood of litigation, either in federal courts or litigation that reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, under the Electoral Reform Act.” Teufle noted that for an election case to be taken up by the Court, “there would have to be significant and provable fraud allegations or other serious violations of the law in the manner that elections are conducted or votes are processed.” Republicans and Democrats alike have initiated a flurry of election-related lawsuits ahead of Nov. 5, including a recent Georgia case finding that county election officials must certify results by the legal deadline despite suspecting fraud or mistakes.  Joseph Burns, partner at Holtzman Vogel, did note that Republicans may prove successful in election litigation based on the makeup of the Court.  “In terms of the makeup of the court, there’s no question you’ve got six appointees of Republican judges at this point,” Burns said. “And these are generally people who, I think, are going to interpret what needs to be interpreted, whether it’s a state statute or a federal statute. Their general philosophy is to adhere as closely as possible to the words of the statute.” “You have a more conservative-minded Supreme Court in that respect,” Burns continued. “And you certainly have Republicans generally making those types of arguments about courts interpreting statutes or state constitutions, for instance, in a stricter manner. So I think in that respect, given the arguments that each side generally makes, Republicans would be in better shape.” ANONYMOUS GOP SENATOR CONCERNED ABOUT GRASSLEY, 91, RECLAIMING KEY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIR: REPORT John Hardin Young, counsel at Sandler Reiff, however, told Fox News Digital he believes it is highly unlikely that the Supreme Court could decide the 2024 election, especially noting the conservative majority.  “I think that there’s now a sensitivity among the nine justices not to get involved unless it were absolutely necessary,” Young said. “There is, I think, somewhat of a bias in the majority on the Supreme Court to get involved if they believe that process is being corrupted or people who aren’t following the rules because the majority is, I think, very sensitive to democracy depending on people following the rules.” “There are just so many unknowns that we have to see how things play out,” said Jeff Weiss, professor at New York Law School.  Although the ECRA attempted to clarify and revise the casting and counting of electoral votes, Teufle said the law as a whole could become the target of litigation after Nov. 5.  “The entirety of the act may come under challenge if it’s utilized in a way that impacts the outcome of the election in a way that people view as improper, unfair or unlawful,” Teufle said. “Either side disappointed with how the electoral count goes could raise constitutional questions about the laws used and the process used to count the votes.”