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What’s the latest on the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump? Al Jazeera breaks down the week’s election news.
It’s been another whirlwind week in United States politics. And with just over two weeks left in the presidential race, the candidates are preparing to make their final appeals to voters.
What have Kamala Harris and Donald Trump — the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, respectively — been doing as the final countdown approaches?
Find out in our latest rundown of the week’s top political news.
National averages have remained largely steady since last week, with Harris maintaining a razor-thin lead — well within the margin of error.
The poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight, for instance, has Harris sitting at 48.3 percent as of October 17. Trump, meanwhile, was close behind at 46.3 percent
Some polls of individual swing states, however, have shown Trump creeping higher. A poll this week from CBS News and YouGov, for instance, zeroed in on Arizona, where analysts noted a three-point lead for Trump over Harris.
An NPR analysis likewise saw the tides turning in Trump’s favour in battleground states, though the news outlet underscored how tight the race is. It also emphasised that polls rarely tell the whole story — and surprises doubtlessly loom over the horizon.
Harris campaign targets Trump’s age
Sunday will mark Harris’s 60th birthday.
But even as the Democratic nominee prepares to celebrate entering a new decade of life, her campaign has taken aim at her Republican rival’s advancing age.
Trump is 78 years old, and he would be the oldest person to be elected president if he is successful in November’s race.
At the start of the race, it was common for Trump to criticise an even older politician for his age and abilities: the presumptive Democratic nominee, President Joe Biden
Biden, 81, had been slated to headline the Democratic ticket. But after a wobbly performance in the June presidential debate, concerns about his age reached a fever pitch, and Biden bowed out of the race.
Trump — who had long slammed Biden as “weak” and “sleepy” — now faces a significantly younger opponent in Harris. And Harris has flipped the script, using Trump’s age against him.
“I’ve been hearing reports that his team, at least, is saying he’s suffering from exhaustion,” Harris said on Friday. “If he’s exhausted being on the campaign trail, is he fit to do the job?”
Her comments came on the heels of a string of cancelled Trump events — and her own glowing health report, released by the White House last week.