Closing summary
This blog is closing now – thanks for following along. Here’s a summary of day:
More than 57.5 million people have already voted in US election. With six days until the 2024 election, more than 57.5 million Americans have already voted as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida. Of the 57 million, just over 30 million voted early in-person and about 27 million voted by early mail.
A new CNN poll shows Kamala Harris leading over Trump by six points in Wisconsin and five points in Michigan, key battleground states. Harris leads Trump by 48% to 43% among likely voters in Michigan and 51% to 45% in Wisconsin. The candidates are tied at 48% in Pennsylvania.
Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Nicky Jam has withdrawn his support for Donald Trump after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday. “Never in my life did I think that a month later a comedian would come to criticize my country, to speak poorly of my country, and therefore I renounce any support to Donald Trump and move aside from any political situation. Puerto Rico deserves respect,” he said.
Trump and Harris each held rallies in Wisconsin. Trump riffed on his appearance in a garbage truck earlier, and wore a reflective vest of the kind often worn by sanitation workers. The crowd laughed as he said that he liked the vest because it was flattering. Harris spoke to a hugely enthusiastic crowd and seemed at ease and energetic. The strongest part of her speech was when she addressed first-time voters, specifically, telling them that issues including the climate crisis, gun control and abortion restrictions weren’t political to them: these were their lived experience.
In an op-ed for the Guardian, Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, addresses progressives’ concerns about voting for Harris given the administration’s support for Israel’s war.
Kamala Harris held a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, this afternoon. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said.
Harris said that she strongly disagrees with criticisms of people based on who they voted for. Speaking on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday following Joe Biden’s “garbage” remarks, Harris said that Biden had “clarified his comments”, adding: “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they voted for.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, has announced he is endorsing Kamala Harris. He joins a running list of Republicans crossing party lines to vote against Donald Trump.
The US supreme court has paused the ruling by a lower court that would have restored voting rights to approximately 1,600 voters in Virginia. In its brief order, the supreme court wrote: “The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted.”
Virginia’s Republican governor Glenn Youngkin has hailed the supreme court’s ruling, calling it a “victory for common sense and election fairness”. Youngkin had ordered state officials to identify and cancel the voter registration of alleged non-citizens unless they could prove their citizenship in two weeks.
Tim Walz appeared on Good Morning America, saying: “We know it’s going to be close, but we’re going to win this thing.” Speaking to host George Stephanopoulos, Walz said: “We’ve got the better ground game, we’ve got the excitement, we’ve got the momentum on our side.”
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Many Puerto Ricans who have moved to the mainland will be able to make their voices heard on 5 November, with large communities in Pennsylvania and Florida being targeted by both campaigns.
Those who remain in the territory meanwhile, have made numerous efforts to become a state in their own right. The island has more people than the five smallest states combined and statehood is supported by many, but the final decision lies with Congress – and recent efforts have stalled.
Those delays and persistent disfranchisement means some Puerto Ricans are eager to leave the US orbit altogether.
On Tuesday, alongside elections for local politicians and an informal straw poll for their favoured presidential candidate, they will vote in their seventh non-binding referendum on status – this time putting full and partial independence up against statehood.
“It’s not fair that that all of these decisions are being made as if we were savages, as if we were people who can’t have self determination,” Betancourt says. “I don’t want to vote for the United States – I want to vote for the president of Puerto Rico.”
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