| October 28, 2024 08:17:34 AM |
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| October 28, 2024 08:17:34 AM |
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Uncertainty reigns entering the final full week of the 2024 campaign with Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump locked in a fiercely competitive presidential contest. What happens in the coming days will be pivotal in deciding the winner.
Welcome to AP's Ground Game. This week and next, we'll bring you additional special editions ahead of Election Day. |
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) |
The campaign nears its end. Here's what to watch. |
Among the questions in this final full week ahead of the presidential election are whether Middle East wars could shift the campaign’s focus, if Harris’ closing message will harness Democrats’ anxiety, and if Trump can stay on message.
U.S. presidential elections are rarely shaped by foreign affairs, but the wars in the Middle East are escalating at the very moment that millions of voters are preparing to cast ballots. Iran’s response to Friday’s airstrikes by Israel could determine the extent to which the Middle East conflict shapes the U.S. election.
Also watch Trump and Harris’ travel schedules, which have focused largely on the seven battleground states but are always likely to change based on the campaigns' intelligence on the ground. Trump added a Saturday stop in Virginia, which hasn't voted for a Republican for president since 2004. Read more.
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Of note:
More than 41 million votes have already been cast in the election nationwide, and while Democrats generally have an advantage in early voting, so far, Republicans are participating at a much higher rate than they have in the past. |
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AP-NORC poll: Americans concerned about post-election violence |
American voters are approaching the presidential election with deep unease about what could follow, including the potential for political violence, attempts to overturn the election results and its broader implications for democracy, according to a new poll.
The findings of the survey, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, speak to persistent concerns about the fragility of the world’s oldest democracy. Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results inspired a mob of his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. About 4 in 10 registered voters say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about violent attempts to overturn the results after the November election. A similar share is worried about legal efforts to do so. Read more. |
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Of note:
About 1 in 3 voters say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about attempts by local or state election officials to stop the results from being finalized. Relatively few voters — about one-third or less — are “not very” or “not at all” concerned about any of that happening. |
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Lawmakers share what it’s like in a ‘chaos’ Congress |
Polarizing. Challenging. A lot of wasted time.
That’s how six lawmakers described what’s like being in the U.S. House. A particularly tumultuous period in American history has brought governing to a standstill, placed their lives in danger and raised fundamental questions about what it means to be a representative in a divided democracy. And yet, they keep at it, running for reelection.
The Associated Press sat down separately with lawmakers, three Republicans and three Democrats, to hear what it’s like on Capitol Hill and what they — and Americans — can do to make it better. All hail from safe districts and are expected to easily win another term. Read more. |
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Of note:
All celebrated even small wins. Especially the small wins, in fact, because that’s about all Congress can accomplish these days. |
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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a community rally at the Alan Horwitz "Sixth Man" Center, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) |
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Harris campaigns with Tim Walz in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Monday and gives what her campaign has termed a “closing argument” speech on the Ellipse in Washington on Tuesday. On Wednesday, she stumps in Raleigh, North Carolina; Pennsylvania and Madison, Wisconsin. Harris on Thursday campaigns in Phoenix before going to Nevada for campaign events in Reno and Las Vegas.
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Trump on Monday appears at a faith roundtable in Powder Springs, Georgia, before holding a rally in Atlanta. He goes to Pennsylvania on Tuesday for a Building America’s Future roundtable in Drexel Hill and a rally in Allentown. Trump rallies in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday and heads west on Thursday for a rally in Henderson, Nevada, and an appearance with Tucker Carlson in Glendale, Arizona. On Friday, he holds a rally in Milwaukee and holds an event on Saturday in Salem, Virginia.
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Harris said Sunday that “no one can sit on the sidelines” in this year’s presidential election, capping a day of campaigning across the largest city in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania. Read more.
Trump hosted a rally featuring crude and racist insults at New York’s Madison Square Garden Sunday, turning what his campaign had dubbed as the event where he would deliver his closing message into an illustration of what turns off his critics. Read more. |
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