Rivals race to get the record as the US election nears a photo finish

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Kamala Harris sets her sights on the Rust Belt as Donald Trump heads into the US's biggest swing states on Sunday in a frantic final push, less than 48 hours before Election Day in a historically close race.

75 million people voted before Tuesday's climax, and the race is in the balance – at this point, more states are functionally tied in the polls than in any comparable election.

As of Saturday night, none of the candidates had a lead of more than three points in any of the seven battleground states vying for the presidency, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages.

Harris – eager to strengthen the Great Lakes states, seen as crucial to any Democratic election – was scheduled to spend the day in Michigan, starting in Detroit, before a stop in Pontiac and an evening rally at Michigan State University filed.

Trump's Sunday calendar focuses on Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, the three largest electors in the Electoral College, which rewards the influence of states according to their size.

The 78-year-old is trying to distract from the week-long scandal surrounding his rally in New York's legendary Madison Square Garden, where warm-up speakers alienated Hispanics and women with racist and sexist language.

Trump's surrogates winced at the unforced error, which seemed particularly unprofessional when compared to Harris' speech to a huge, cheering crowd at Washington's Ellipse Square, with the White House as the backdrop.

None of Trump's Sunday events are in areas with large Hispanic populations, but Pennsylvania is the swing state with the most Puerto Ricans, a community particularly angered by the bigotry at Trump's rally.

“The choice couldn’t be clearer for Pennsylvanians: President Donald J. Trump represents America First policies, while Kamala Harris represents incompetence and dangerously liberal policies that devastate Pennsylvania families,” the Trump campaign said .

Michigan is one of seven closely watched battlegrounds.

On his way to defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016, Trump flipped the Great Lake State, a former Democratic stronghold. President Joe Biden brought him back into the Democratic column in 2020, buoyed by unionized workers and a large Black community.

But this time, Harris risks losing the support of a 200,000-strong Arab American community that has denounced Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Pollsters have noted a decline in black support for the Democratic candidacy, and Harris' aides acknowledge they still have work to do to produce enough African-American men to compete with Biden's winning coalition in 2020.

Looking to reach beyond her traditional circle of supporters, Harris ended her day of campaigning on Saturday with a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” where she poked fun at her presidential rival Donald Trump on the iconic sketch show.

“Keep Kamala and carry on – ala!” the vice president said in a well-received appearance alongside Maya Rudolph, the comedian who played her “America's Funny Aunt” on the show.

To get as much TV exposure as possible, the Harris campaign booked a two-minute broadcast spot for Sunday during football games, including a tie between two NFL teams from key swing states – the Green Bay Packers versus the Detroit Lions.

In the ad, Harris promises to be “a president for all Americans” and to “build a better future for our nation.”

“The campaign’s research shows that the last week proved crucial in solidifying the vote in this election among both undecided and lower-propensity voters,” their campaign said.

“Madison Square Garden’s split-screen closing argument and its impact on the Ellipse disrupted and clarified the choice for this segment of the electorate.”

Harris, 60, got a boost Saturday when the Des Moines Register's final poll before Election Day — considered a highly credible test of overall public sentiment — showed a stunning reversal, with Harris ahead in a state Trump won easily in 2016 had won in 2020.

She leads by three points in a poll that showed her trailing Trump by four points in September.