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Topline Voters will head to the polls Tuesday after former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ final battleground blitzes, as polls remain deadlocked in one of the most tumultuous presidential campaigns in history, ending with Americans choosing either the oldest president ever elected or the first woman president. Key Facts Key Background Tuesday marks the culmination of one of the most chaotic election cycles in history: A former president, convicted of felonies and facing dozens of other criminal charges, challenges a vice president who was elevated to the top of the ticket after the primaries when President Joe Biden, 81, bowed out of the race following a pressure campaign from within his own party. Harris would be the first woman elected president, and Trump would be the oldest.
Polls show the race is deadlocked nationally and in the seven swing states set to decide the election, after Trump led President Joe Biden in surveys before his exit and Harris carved out an early lead after her entrance into the contest. Trump has centered his most recent campaign around immigration—blaming Harris for the surge of border crossings and ramping up his dark rhetoric linking undocumented migrants (often without evidence) to crime and economic pitfalls. He’s also sought to tie Harris to the high inflation rate the country experienced under Biden.
Harris, meanwhile, has focused her campaign on turning the tide on the political divisiveness the country has experienced under Trump, repeatedly highlighting Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, his promises to seek retribution against his political enemies and the barrage of damning portrayals of the former president from his former White House staff and from within his own party. Harris is widely viewed to have fallen short in explaining how she would differentiate herself from Biden, however, and her policy positions are sometimes light on details.
What To Watch For Republicans are poised to retake the Senate, though the House is more of a toss-up. In the Senate, where Democrats have a razor-thin 51-49 seat majority, 23 Democrat-held seats are up for re-election, compared to just 11 held by Republicans, none of which are rated toss-ups by Cook Political Report . In the House, where Republicans hold a 221-214 majority, Republicans have a 51% chance of maintaining control, according to Five Thirty Eight , while Democrats would win control 49 times out of 100.
When Do Polls Close? The first polls close in eastern Kentucky and most of Indiana at 6 p.m. But the real indicators of who might win won’t come until later in the night, when the seven swing states begin releasing counts, with Georgia and North Carolina likely the first to report results.
Further Reading Trump Vs. Harris 2024 Polls: Harris Up By Razor-Thin 1 Point In Final Forbes/HarrisX Survey (Forbes) Election 2024 Swing State Polls: Near-Tie In ‘Blue Wall’ As Trump And Harris Fight For Pennsylvania (Latest Update) (Forbes) Why A Tiny Polling Error Could Lead To A Trump—Or Harris—Electoral Landslide (Forbes).
