Trump, Harris in tight race a week before presidential elections

WASHINGTON, the United States | Xinhua | The race for the White House is neck and neck just a week before Americans cast their ballots for the next president.

Republican candidate Donald Trump leads Democratic candidate Kamala Harris by an average of 0.4 percentage points in national polls as of Tuesday, according to the U.S. election information website Real Clear Politics.

Trump leads by just a hair in many swing states, including Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina, while Harris leads by half a point in Michigan.

The swing states are likely to determine the election outcome, and both candidates have been actively campaigning there, attending rallies to present their case to voters.

“The presidential race remains tight, but Harris has been outspending Trump by a 2 or 3 to 1 margin in advertising,” Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua.

Inflation and the economy are among the main issues. While President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris have overseen an economy with low unemployment, many voters are outraged over the high prices that have taken hold during the current administration.

Besides, Trump’s campaign has been accusing the Biden-Harris administration of leading to a major increase in crime in urban areas.

Stores are now locking up their merchandise, as shoplifters brazenly fill up garbage bags full of goods and simply walk out of the store without paying. Drug addicts shoot up heroin and other hard drugs in broad daylight in many cities. They harass and physically assault passersby, and urinate and defecate on sidewalks in downtown areas.

At the same time, Trump has ruffled several feathers, as he is known to do, with what critics call incendiary rhetoric.

Critics also blasted Trump for his plan to launch the mass deportation operation of millions of immigrants who illegally poured over the border since the current administration took office. Trump’s critics fear this could lead to problems including breaking up families and giving law enforcement too much power.

It remains unknown what undecided voters will do.

“Many undecided voters will not vote at all,” Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua, adding that the people who are unlikely to vote, based on past elections, accounts for a large percentage of adults.  ■