Closing summary
Thanks for joining us today. This has been Cecilia Nowell reporting on the latest US elections headlines this Saturday.
Here’s a summary of the day:
In a startling reversal, a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll shows Kamala Harris ahead of Donald Trump 47% to 44% among likely voters as the presidential race comes down to its final days.
Vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr – who was recently reported to be up for a role in US health and food safety in Trump’s administration – said in a social media post that he would remove fluoride from all public water if Trump wins the election.
Harris and Trump criss-crossed the country today, as both candidates tried to drum up support in the final weekend ahead of the presidential election. Both candidates began the day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before Harris departed for Atlanta and then Charlotte, North Carolina. Trump also traveled to North Carolina, before heading to a rally in Virginia.
Both candidates’ running mates appeared at events in Nevada and Arizona. Tim Walz knocked on doors in Henderson, Nevada, before speaking alongside Indigenous leaders in Flagstaff and then courting Latino voters in Tucson. Meanwhile, JD Vance spoke in Las Vegas before heading to a gun store in Scottsdale.
Americans took to the streets in cities across the country for a day of women’s marches. Marches were planned in all 50 states for the eighth annual gathering, which began the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated in 2017.
Joe Biden spoke at a carpenters’ union in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he was joined by his granddaughter, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania.
The national guard is on standby in at least three states – Washington, Oregon and Nevada – and Washington DC as the election approaches, as fears of civil unrest grow.
A record number of wealthy Americans are planning to leave the country as election day approaches, NBC News reports, citing fears that the election could spur political and social unrest regardless of its outcome.
Updated
In Tucson, Arizona, Tim Walz has pulled out his “mind your own damn business” mantra again.
“This guy is not John McCain’s Republican party,” he said, referring to Trump’s policies. “He means government should have the freedom to be in your exam room, to be in your bedroom, to tell you what books to read and make those decisions. If they just mind their own damn business, we’ll mind our own damn business and we’ll all be better.”
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