US election: 7 days left – What polls say Harris and Trump are up to | News about the 2024 US election

A week before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to “put an end to fear and division” at a campaign rally in the battleground state of Michigan.

Meanwhile, at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, former US President Donald Trump attacked his critics, including former first lady Michelle Obama, whom he described as “evil”.

On Monday, incendiary devices were set off at two ballot drop boxes — one in Portland and one in nearby Vancouver, Washington — destroying hundreds of ballots, in what one official called a “direct attack on democracy.”

What are the latest updates from the surveys?

Harris and Trump remain neck-and-neck, with analysts predicting the election will be razor-thin in some key swing states.

According to FiveThirtyEight's daily election poll tracker, Harris is narrowly ahead in the national polls, by 1.4 percentage points as of Tuesday. This represents a slight decrease from the previous week, when it was ahead by 1.7 percentage points.

Seven key swing states will likely determine the results of this election. Both campaigns have placed their focus and efforts there.

These seven states include Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada.

According to FiveThirtyEight's daily poll tracker, Harris has a narrow lead in Michigan. Meanwhile, Trump has a slight lead over Harris in Pennsylvania and Nevada and enjoys larger leads in North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia.

And in Wisconsin, according to FiveThirtyEight, not even a tenth of a percentage point separates the two.

In all seven states, the candidates are within two percentage points of each other, well within the polls' margin of error, giving each state a tie just days before the final vote.

What was Kamala Harris up to on Sunday?

Harris focused on Michigan, where her main event was an evening campaign rally and concert in Ann Arbor alongside her running mate, Tim Walz, and singer Maggie Rogers.

In 2022, Michigan saw the highest youth voter turnout in the country in the midterm elections, with long lines at polling places on college campuses. This year, Democrats are trying to revive that energy by organizing events like the rally in Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan.

However, about 30 pro-Palestinian protesters opposed Harris at the event. The candidate acknowledged the chants and told the protesters, “Hey guys, I hear you.” The group chanted, “Israel is bombing, Kamala is paying, how many children did you kill today?”

After acknowledging the group, Harris said: “As far as Gaza is concerned, we all want this war to end as quickly as possible and the hostages released, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen.”

She previously held afternoon campaign rallies in Saginaw and Macomb County. Harris appealed to working-class voters by highlighting the administration's efforts to create more factory jobs in the state and its support for unions.

Before flying to Michigan, Harris also took a dig at Trump, referencing comments he made the day before at Trump's rally in New York, where a comedian called Puerto Rico “a floating island of trash.”

“[It] “I really highlighted the point that I've been making throughout the campaign,” which is that Trump “is fixated on his grievances, on himself and on the division of our country, and that is in no way something that strengthens the American family “American worker,” Harris said.

“There is a big difference between him and me,” she added.

According to Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, DC, Harris' campaign is trying to capitalize on some of the racist comments that emerged from Trump's rally.

“In this way, the Harris campaign is trying to convince undecided Latino voters, particularly in the swing state of Pennsylvania, to vote for them,” Jordan said.

There are more than 450,000 Puerto Ricans living in Pennsylvania, making up 8 percent of the state's population. There, Trump and Harris are separated by just 0.2 percentage points, and Pennsylvania offers 19 Electoral College votes – the most votes among the swing states.

What did Donald Trump plan to do on Monday?

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was in Georgia. He spoke at the inaugural 2024 National Faith Summit in Powder Springs in the afternoon before holding a rally in Atlanta in the evening.

During his events, Trump dismissed claims that he or his supporters were comparable to Nazis and fascists.

“I am not a Nazi. “I’m the opposite of a Nazi,” Trump told the crowd gathered at Georgia Tech. “The way they talk is so disgusting and just horrible.”

“My dad – I had a great dad, a tough guy. He always said: Never use the word Nazi. Never use that word.”

He then criticized Harris for “using the F-word.” In response to comments from Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly, who said the former president met the definition of a fascist, Harris expressed her agreement with that assessment. Trump said of Harris: “She’s a fascist, okay? She’s a fascist.”

During his event in Atlanta, he also called former first lady Michelle Obama “evil” after she condemned his rhetoric over the weekend.

Georgia is an important key state. Trump won it in the 2016 presidential campaign and lost it in 2020.

However, Trump remained silent at his events in Georgia about the racist comments about Puerto Rico at his rally in New York.

“But that’s to be expected from the former president,” Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said, reporting from outside the ex-president’s rally in Atlanta.

“Donald Trump operates on the principle of never apologizing and never giving in,” he added.

What's next for the Harris and Trump campaigns?

Harris will speak in Washington, DC

Harris is expected to address a crowd of 20,000 people in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening in what her campaign is calling a “closing argument” from the former prosecutor.

Harris will speak at the Ellipse, just outside the White House.

At the same location, Trump addressed his supporters at his infamous “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, shortly before a pro-Trump mob attacked the US Capitol.

Meanwhile, Tim Walz – Harris' vice president – will campaign on Tuesday in Georgia, a key swing state where Trump is actively mobilizing his base.

Trump rallies in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Trump will hold a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania is a critical battleground state and both Trump and Harris have made multiple visits there in recent weeks.

Given the magnitude of the Puerto Rican vote in the state and the racist remarks made at the Trump rally against the U.S. territory, Trump's campaign visits could become even more important in his bid to win the state, where he is currently narrowly in the lead query tracker.

While Puerto Ricans living on the island do not vote in presidential elections, Americans of Puerto Rican origin or descent are an important demographic in some swing states.

“Puerto Rico is trash? “We are Americans, Donald Trump,” said TV host Sunny Hostin on the popular show The View on Monday. “We’re voting.” Hostin’s family is from Puerto Rico.

.@Sunny Hostin: “This Puerto Rican has something to say about the island that I love and where my family is from. Puerto Rico is trash? We are Americans, Donald Trump.”

“Dear fellow Puerto Ricans, Garbage Collection Day is November 5, 2024. Don’t forget that.” pic.twitter.com/fFC4aMeZUg

– The View (@TheView) October 28, 2024

Whoever wins Pennysylvania could very well win the White House, analysts believe.

“I’m really looking at Pennsylvania,” Thomas Gift, associate professor of political science at the UCL School of Public Policy, told Al Jazeera.

“Some recent forecasts have shown that Donald Trump's chances of winning the White House increase to 96 percent if he can win Pennsylvania; If Kamala Harris wins Pennsylvania, her chances of winning the White House increase to 91 percent,” Gift added.