With under two days to polling, ‘dead heat’ continues in U.S. presidential election

With less than two days to go for the pivotal presidential election in the U.S., reputable pollsters in the country have called the race a “dead heat”. In opinion polls held nationally and very recently, Vice-President and Democrat Kamala Harris was narrowly ahead of former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump by a single percentage point (48.5% to 47.6% on average, according to pollster Nate Silver). These polls include those by NBC News and Emerson College projecting a 49%-49% tie nationally, Ipsos giving Ms. Harris a three-point lead (49%-46%) and AtlasIntel a two-point lead (50%-48%) to Mr. Trump. But the margins were even closer in the seven “battleground” States that could decide the winner of the electoral college and therefore the next President.

The New York Times-Siena polls, which enjoy one of the highest ratings in the polling analysis website 538.com, released a new set of polls that showed that Mr. Trump ahead of Ms. Harris in Arizona (49% vs 45%, the State carries 11 electoral votes) just beyond the error margin of roughly 3% points. But in the other six States, Ms. Harris was marginally ahead in four (Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Georgia) and tied with Mr. Trump in Pennsylvania, which carries 19 electoral votes, and Michigan. The vote differences in all these six States between the two candidates were well within the error margin, suggesting that a marginal correction could mean a decisive victory for either candidate.

Source:thehindu.com