Donald Trump has been working tirelessly to win over male voters and by some measures his efforts appear effective, but it may have come at the cost of female support. According to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll, Trump is besting Kamala Harris among men by 53% to 37%, while the Democratic candidate is winning among women 53% to 36%.
But despite multiple polls showing the gender gap among voters widening to historic levels, Harris has said she doesn’t see the phenomenon borne out at her rallies. “What I am seeing is in equal measure, men and women talking about their concerns about the future of our democracy.”
Both Harris and her Republican challenger spent the past day at rallies across battleground states. With only days to go until the election, a poll from Bloomberg News and Morning Consult finds that the 2024 presidential race is still too close to call.
Here’s what else happened on Thursday:
Kamala Harris election news
Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama appeared alongside Harris at a star-studded campaign event in Clarkston, Georgia. The event launched the Democratic campaign’s series of battleground state concerts. The actor Samuel L Jackson, director Spike Lee, senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, and actor Tyler Perry also spoke at the rally.
About 20,000 people attended the Georgia event, according to the Harris campaign, which would make it her largest political rally yet. Bruce Springsteen urged voters to back Harris in the presidential election, warning that Trump is a would-be “tyrant”. Early voting totals have been breaking records in Georgia, with about 30% of the electorate having already cast ballots.
Beyoncé will reportedly join Harris at her rally in Houston on Friday, continuing the celebrity pile-in. Harris is rallying in Texas, a Republican stronghold, to highlight abortion rights and support the Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred, who trails the Republican Ted Cruz in opinion polls.
Harris picked up the endorsement of two Republicans: one a former congressman from Michigan, the other a mayor in a pivotal county in Wisconsin. The former congressman Fred Upton said Trump was “totally unhinged”, adding: “We don’t need this chaos. We need to move forward, and that’s why I’m where I am.”
Donald Trump election news
Trump said he would order the immediate firing of the special counsel Jack Smith if he were re-elected in the clearest expression of his intent to shut down the two criminal cases brought against him. The power to fire the special counsel formally rests with the attorney general, but Trump has made no secret of his intention to appoint a loyalist in that role.
Trump, campaigning in the border swing state of Arizona, called the country a “garbage can” because of immigration policies under the Biden administration. He laid out a host of policies including invoking the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen and hiring 10,000 more border agents and increasing their pay.
Later, Trump appeared at another rally organised by the conservative group Turning Point Action in Nevada. The United for Change event in Las Vegas drew thousands of supporters. The group, founded by conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk to engage young conservatives, has been working to help turn out voters on Trump’s behalf.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail
Mail-in ballots have been damaged after a man set fire to a postal collection box in Arizona. Phoenix police arrested Dieter Klofkorn, who admitted to the crime and said his actions were not politically motivated.
Elon Musk gave another $44m to his pro-Donald Trump spending group during the first half of October, federal disclosures showed. The contributions, disclosed in a filing to the Federal Election Commission by Musk’s America PAC group, come after a prior report showed he gave the group around $75m over three months between July and September.
Read more about the 2024 US election
