Gap narrows in key swing states

US president Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden ramped up their campaign push yesterday as surveys show the Republican has narrowed the gaps in key battleground states with his Democratic rival ahead of Tuesday's election day. 

Barack Obama yesterday was scheduled to join forces with Biden in Michigan and Trump was to campaign in the key state of Pennsylvania, which he won in 2016 by a razor-thin margin, to get its 20 electoral votes.

Trump, 74, won Michigan by a narrow margin of 0.2 points in 2016 -- but this year the former vice president leads by seven points.

That puts him in pole position to take its 16 electoral votes, a sizable leap towards the 270 he needs to win the White House.

For the past week Obama has put his popularity at the service of his former vice president, hosting several rallies at which he repeatedly slammed Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, notably in Florida and Pennsylvania.

But Trump -- who has dismissed Obama's rallies as much smaller than his own -- will himself head to Pennsylvania, where he will host three rallies, a sign of how key the state is to his own path to 270 votes.

Biden will follow suit there both Sunday and Monday in a clear sign that his campaign also sees the Keystone State as absolutely crucial to victory.

On Friday the two candidates battled over the American Midwest, barnstorming three heartland states each as they chased every last vote in a region that propelled the Republican to victory in 2016.

But the race was overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic, with infections spiking across the country. More than 100,000 new infections were recorded Friday -- a new high for the second day running -- and total cases passed nine million.

Nevertheless Trump, who has long said the virus will "disappear," remained defiant at rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

"We just want normal," he told supporters -- many of them unmasked -- at an outdoor rally near Detroit as he pushed states to relax public health restrictions and resume daily life.

The virus has killed nearly 230,000 Americans.

The outbreak has ravaged the economy, and while there have been signs of recovery, millions remain jobless.

And with voters concerned about the health hazards of crowded polling stations on November 3, a record 86 million have already cast early ballots by mail or in person.

The coronavirus set back has given Biden the weapons to go on the offensive, pushing Trump onto the back foot in unexpected battlegrounds like Texas, a large, traditionally conservative bastion now rated a toss-up by multiple analysts.

On Friday, the state reported that a staggering nine million residents had already voted, surpassing its 2016 total.

Biden's running mate Kamala Harris visited Texas Friday in a bid to turn the state Democratic for the first time since president Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Biden winning there would be a major blow to Trump, but the president dismissed the notion, saying: "Texas, we're doing very well."

Biden also stumped Friday in Wisconsin and in Minnesota, where he sharpened his attacks on the president on everything from Trump seeking to dismantle Obama-era health care protections and keeping his taxes secret to climate change and trade policy with China.

"We can not afford four more years of Donald Trump," the Democrat said at a socially distanced drive-in rally in St Paul, Minnesota.

In Iowa, he attacked Trump over his handling of the pandemic, telling another drive-in rally in Des Moines that Trump has "given up (and) waved the white flag."

Biden leads Trump 52% to 42% in Reuters/IPSOS national opinion polling, partly because of widespread disapproval of his handling of the pandemic. Opinion polls show a closer contest in the most competitive states that will decide the election.

The focus on the upper Midwest underlined the region's importance in the race. Michigan and Wisconsin were two of the three historically Democratic industrial states, along with Pennsylvania, that narrowly voted for the Republican Trump in 2016, delivering him an upset victory.

Biden leads Trump by 9 percentage points in Michigan and Wisconsin and 5 points in Pennsylvania, according to Reuters/IPSOS polling released on October 27. However a RCP poll yesterday put the Michigan on 'toss-up' state list from 'leaning Biden' as it showed the gap narrowed down to 7.4 percentage points.

RCP polls also indicated to a tighter race in Pennsylvania. Biden now leads the state by 3.7 percentage points. Trump is also seen catching up with Biden in North Carolina where he trails by only 1.3 percentage point.

In Florida, the biggest of swing state which offers 29 electoral votes, the gap narrowed to 1.2 percentage points.

Minnesota, which has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972, is one of the few Democratic states that Trump is trying to flip this year. Biden said his visit was not a sign he was worried about the state, where he has held a steady lead. RCP poll showed the gap has narrowed down to 4.6 percentage points.