WITH just ten days until the US chooses its next president, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are level in the polls – with just seven “swing” states set to decide the winner.
In the US system instead of votes being counted nationally, the winner in each state is awarded a certain number of “electoral college” votes, partly based on the state’s population.
Donald Trump is favourite to win in all but one of the seven key battlegroundsAP
Kamala Harris is level with the former President in the pollsAFP
There are 538 college votes in all, and the winner is the one who bags the most.
Now the two rivals for the most powerful job on the planet are fighting hardest in the seven states where just a few thousand votes could make the difference.
A Betfair spokesman said: “As things stand, Donald Trump is favourite to win in all but one of those seven key battlegrounds, and if the punters are right, he will win by a significant margin.”
Today we look at which way those seven states may swing.
NEVADA
TRUMP 47.3% | HARRIS 47.3%
EVEN the bravest gambler in Las Vegas might hesitate to bet on who will win the state known for its casino city.
Different polls have put either Harris or Trump ahead in Nevada, which has backed every Democrat candidate since 2008.
The state has the highest unemployment rate in the US at 5.1 per cent and that could persuade enough undecided voters to pick the Republican.
Campaigning in Nevada this week, Trump praised the state’s “amazing Filipinos”, some of who were at the rally.
He told them: “It’s an honour to have you here. Beautiful clothing – the colours, I want to wear colours like that.”
ARIZONA
TRUMP 48.6% | HARRIS 46.8%
WITH a 370-mile border with Mexico, the big issue in this southern state is illegal immigration.
Trump has made up ground on Harris in the past couple of weeks in Arizona by relentlessly focusing on how unauthor-ised crossings hit record levels under Joe Biden.
Harris tried to counter that by visiting a small border town and vowing to make the border between the US and Mexico more secure.
Meanwhile security is being tightened ahead of voting after bullets were fired at the Democrats’ campaign office in Phoenix.
WISCONSIN
TRUMP 47.6% | HARRIS 47.8%
THIS week former US president Barack Obama was out campaigning for Harris in this state, which voted for the Democrat candidate in seven elections prior to Trump emerging victorious in 2016.
On that occasion, his rival Hillary Clinton didn’t campaign hard enough in Wisconsin, but Harris is not making the same mistake.
Trump, though, is hoping his message that immigrants are stealing jobs could see him get the northern state back after losing here to Biden in 2020.
MICHIGAN
TRUMP 47% | HARRIS 47.7%
THE state’s long- established car industry has been losing ground to foreign competitors for years.
Another problem for Harris is that Michigan’s 400,000 Muslims are turning against the Democrats due to Biden’s support for Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Many back Trump despite his friendship with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
PENNSYLVANIA
TRUMP 47.9% | HARRIS 47.6%
THIS so-called “rust-belt” state in the North East of the US was won by Trump in 2016 and by Biden in 2020.
At the moment it is too close to call, but surging inflation could dent Harris’s hopes in Pennsylvania, which last year saw the highest rise in the cost of grocery shopping anywhere in the country.
Democrat candidate Harris was there on Wednesday trying to win over working-class voters in an area which is still trying to bounce back from decades of industrial decline.
NORTH CAROLINA
TRUMP 48.3% | HARRIS 47.1%
TRUMP won this southern state by a margin of just 1.3 per cent in 2020 and polls suggest it could be even closer this time.
At his first outdoor rally in North Carolina following his attempted assassination in July he said: “This state is a very, very big state to win.”
Voters in the state who are still suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene last month, which left 95 people dead and many without running water, could turn away from the Democrats.
GEORGIA
TRUMP 48.5% | HARRIS 47%
AFTER losing the last Presidential election, Trump told Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” for him.
That would have given him one more vote than Biden – but that attempt to influence a state official could still land the Republican candidate in court.
As for the 2024 election, two million of the state’s 11 million population have so far voted early.
Most of the recent polls have Trump slightly ahead, but just a few thousand polling cards could make all the difference again on November 5.