What you need to know
Latest updates
- Kamala Harris and Donald Trump court Hispanic voters in Nevada today. Singer Jennifer Lopez will speak at Ms. Harris’s rally in Las Vegas where Mexican pop rock band Mana will perform, while Mr. Trump will hold a rally in Henderson and will also travel to New Mexico.
- Donald Trump has said that the solution to California’s parched forests and fields lies in Canada, reigniting concerns that the U.S. could press Canada to help solve its mounting water shortages.
- Elon Musk has been ordered to attend a hearing today in a prosecutor’s lawsuit to block the billionaire’s $1-million-a-day giveaway to registered swing state voters.
Go deeper
- The presidential campaigns have increasingly turned to Podcasters, YouTubers, streamers and social media stars as gateways to very specific segments of potential voters they are unlikely to reach through cable news or rallies.
- In 2016, roughly 90 per cent of polls wrongly predicted that Mr. Trump would lose. In 2020, polls correctly predicted the outcome, but still underestimated Mr. Trump’s national performance. Here’s why this time may be different.
- As police pursue the culprit in ballot-box fires in Oregon and Washington, many on social media have made up their minds, without evidence, about the ideological motive behind them. Patrick Dell sifts through the misinformation.
Commentary
- With barriers removed, with the judiciary in his corner, with media cowed, and with the authoritarian-styled changes he has in mind, Donald Trump could be on the verge of becoming the most powerful president ever, with authority tantamount to that of an autocrat, Lawrence Martin writes.
- From the Ukrainian port of Odesa, Michael Bociurkiw, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, analyzes why a nation at war feels so cornered by the U.S. presidential election and the prospect of a Trump resurgence.
- The Madison Square Garden rally was scarier than anything you’ll see this Halloween, but Nazi analogies aren’t helpful, Marsha Lederman writes.
- Ms. Harris’s Tuesday evening speech on the White House Ellipse offered a modern riff on what truly makes America great, Konrad Yakabuski writes.
When is the U.S. election? When do we know results?
Polling hours on Nov. 5 will vary state by state, with the earliest ones opening at 6 a.m. (ET). Polls generally close between 6 to 9 p.m. local time, but governments can ask the courts for extensions. Once the counting of in-person and mail-in ballots starts, it’s anyone’s guess how long it will take to get a result: In 2020, logistical problems, disputes and recounts left the outcome uncertain for days.
Until then, Globe readers can get the latest news in their inboxes through the Morning Update newsletter, or subscribe to the U.S. election topic page.
Who is leading in the polls?
Nationally, the main presidential candidates are effectively deadlocked, according to the latest tracking by FiveThirtyEight, a poll-aggregation service owned by the ABC news network. Kamala Harris and the Democrats are slightly ahead in FiveThirtyEight’s national averages, but still within the margin of error. All but a few states (more on those later) are solidly behind either Ms. Harris or Donald Trump and the Republicans.
Where Kamala Harris stands
Ms. Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, must see the Democrats through a turbulent campaign that, until late July, centred on President Joe Biden, who agreed not to run again after a poor debate performance and questions about the 81-year-old’s mental fitness. The party and its donors united quickly behind Ms. Harris, 60, an unprecedented process that, in a country with long election cycles, left her with less time than other candidates to win over the public. While she is already a known quantity to Americans – she ran for the Democratic nomination in 2016, and as Vice-President, handled challenging files from foreign policy to immigration – that also means she must win over constituencies skeptical of that record, such as Arab American voters angry over her support for Israel, and working-class voters unhappy with rising inflation.
Where Donald Trump stands
Since losing the 2020 election, Mr. Trump, 78, has been convicted in a felony fraud case and found liable for sexual abuse, and is still fighting in court against other allegations of serious crimes during his presidency. Through rallies, interviews and the social-media platform he owns, he continues to spread conspiracy theories and threats of retribution against prosecutors and law enforcement. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is, as in 2020, central to his campaign, and promises of mass deportations and border walls still resonate with his die-hard MAGA base in border states.
Map of the swing states, and the Electoral College explained
Swing states – sometimes called purple states, for their split loyalties between Democratic blue and Republican red – can make all the difference in close races such as this one.
Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are purple because they chose Mr. Trump in 2016, and Joe Biden in 2020; so is Nevada, whose Democratic wins were close both times. North Carolina may also be in play for Ms. Harris because of shifting demographics and a gubernatorial scandal, among other factors. To see what happens if each of these states swings red or blue, use our interactive tool to explore the different scenarios.
Swing states would matter a lot less if not for the Electoral College that Americans have used since the late 1700s. Nobody wins the presidency simply by getting the most votes nationwide: Instead, those votes determine a list of 538 people called electors, whom the states assign to pick the president. Some states have more electors than others, and different rules for choosing who they are: Some are party officials, but many are regular citizens.
In all but two states, the Democrats or Republicans get electors on a winner-take-all basis. If, for instance, Ms. Harris wins California’s popular vote, she gets all 54 electors. That’s not how it works in Maine and Nebraska, which can pick mixed groups of electors based on congressional and popular votes.
If the college’s vote results in a Harris-Trump tie, the new House of Representatives breaks it via a process that hasn’t been used since 1825. The legislative blocs from each state pick one candidate, and whoever gets 26 or more states wins. “Contingent elections” like these give disproportionate voting power to less populous red states, which are numerous enough that the House would likely pick Mr. Trump.
Divided over democracy
Each candidate is, in their own way, framing this election as a battle for the future of democracy itself. Ms. Harris has called Mr. Trump a “fascist,” pointing to Project 2025 – a think tank’s proposal to stack the public service with GOP loyalists – and warning that, if re-elected, he would seek “unchecked power” and a military loyal only to him. Mr. Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025, but has spent months proposing his own purges of U.S. institutions, and casting doubt on the integrity of the voting process. In polls over the past year, a majority of Republicans say they believe his false claims that the 2020 election was illegitimate, and are heeding his baseless warnings of more fraud to come.
More reading on the democratic divide
Trump knew his claims of rigged 2020 election were false, says Jack Smith in court filing
In Texas, a Republican hunt for voter fraud barrels through the homes of Hispanic Democrats
Biden makes a plea to defend democracy at DNC as he passes baton to Harris
Fact checks from The Globe’s Patrick Dell
Trump repeated false election claims in podcast with Joe Rogan
Examining ‘grossly exaggerated’ claims about Venezuelan gang activity in a Colorado city
Key background on the issues
Immigration
Economy and trade
12 charts to understand Harris’s and Trump’s economic visions
Tariffs, trade and tax credits: What the U.S. election could mean for Canada’s economy
Abortion
Mexico’s abortion activists pivot to help Americans as they struggle with the post-Roe reality
David Shribman: Florida Democrats see opportunities in a post-Roe world
Foreign policy
Fighting Putin and fearing Trump, Ukrainians look ahead to their darkest winter
Konrad Yakabuski: Joe Biden leaves the world stage worse off than he found it
With reports from Associated Press, Reuters and Globe staff