Kamala Harris and Donald Trump faced off on Monday in the final stretch before Election Day, as Americans prepare to either elect the first woman president or witness an unprecedented comeback by the Republican candidate, likely to send shockwaves worldwide.
With polls showing a tight race, the rivals spent their final day of campaigning in the crucial swing states that will likely decide the outcome once polls close on Tuesday.
Trump held rallies in North Carolina and Pennsylvania ahead of a grand finale in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Harris went all-in on Pennsylvania, starting in hard-scrabble Scranton and building up to a rally on the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps made famous in the "Rocky" movie, where she will be joined by celebrities including Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Oprah Winfrey.
Speaking in Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump pursued his apocalyptic vision of an America in decline and overwhelmed by illegal immigrants, whom he described as "savages" and "animals."
"If she ever won, she would have open borders the following day after the election," he said.
Harris hammered home her opposition to Trump-backed abortion bans across the United States -- one of her key vote-winning positions.
But in stark contrast to Trump's dark tone, Harris was upbeat, striking a centrist note.
She told voters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that if elected she would "listen to people who disagree with me."
"We are fighting for a democracy right now, and we love our democracy," she said.
Both sides say they are encouraged by early turnout, with over 80 million people having cast ballots ahead of Election Day.
Superstar Taylor Swift, whose earlier endorsement of Harris has helped bring excitement to the campaign, posted to her 283 million followers an "extremely important reminder" that Tuesday is the final chance to vote.
- Generational shift? -
At 78, Trump is the oldest major party nominee ever to run for US president.
But despite being tarred with criminal convictions and the scandal of his supporters' violent attack on Congress four years ago, he goes into Election Day with major advantages.
Polls show Americans are discontented by the state of the country after four years of President Joe Biden. And Trump's political base is deeply loyal to a man who won the presidency in 2016 -- and now seeks a return -- on a message that he is an outsider, fighting leftist elites.
The final two weeks of the campaign have seen Harris hit back with warnings that Trump is an extreme, unstable figure looking to upend American democracy.
Trump, going hard on his strategy of turning out right-wing voters, has given her plenty of fodder, as he embraces increasingly violent and at times racially charged rhetoric.
Yet his message struck home for first-time voter Ethan Wells, a 19-year-old restaurant cook in Michigan.
Biden "let a lot of illegals in, and they've been murdering and raping our own people," he told AFP. "When Trump was president, nobody messed with America."
Harris, 60, faced enormous challenges on being catapulted into the race only in July after Biden abruptly dropped out.
Yet in that short time, Biden's previously little-noticed vice president has galvanized the Democratic Party, stirring excitement among young voters and promising a generational shift after nearly a decade dominated by Trump -- either as president or looming over the country in the wake of his refusal to accept defeat to Biden in 2020.
"We're not going back," Harris said in Pennsylvania.
"We are ready for a president who understands that the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down. It is based on who you lift up."
- High tension -
The world is anxiously watching as the outcome will have major implications for conflicts in the Middle East and Russia's war in Ukraine, and for tackling climate change, which Trump calls a hoax.
The most immediate fear is that US democracy will buckle.
With Trump having narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July and police foiling a second plot, the fears of violence are very real.
In Washington, growing numbers of businesses and office buildings are being boarded up in case of a repeat of the insurrection launched by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
Trump still refuses to accept he lost that election and just this weekend said that he "shouldn't have left" the White House.
Harris spokesman Ian Sams said Monday that "Trump and his campaign are already telegraphing they may declare victory prematurely" again.
Bd-Pratidin English/ARK
