With the U.S. presidential election just two days away, candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were scheduled on Sunday to campaign in several of the most contested states.
Trump, the Republican flagbearer, planned to continue a hectic schedule with campaign stops in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
He has scheduled campaign rallies in five other states on Monday.
Clinton was to campaign in Cleveland, Ohio, Sunday alongside National Basketball Association star LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
She also planned a stop in New Hampshire on Sunday.
Her schedule for Monday includes stops in North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where she will appear with President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, her husband former president Bill Clinton and her daughter Chelsea Clinton.
A nationwide poll released Sunday by broadcaster ABC and the Washington Post showed Clinton with a lead of five per cent points going into the final hours of the long campaign.
Another poll by broadcaster NBC and the Wall Street Journal showed her with a 4-point lead nationwide.
Polls of likely voters also show a solid lead for Clinton in the number of Electoral College votes she appears likely to win.
Each state offers a set number of electoral votes based on the population of the state, and candidates need 270 Electoral College votes – a simple majority – to become president.
In a few of the important swing states, polls indicate Trump recently picked up some support, but he must win more of those states in order to defeat Clinton.
Speaking Saturday in Reno, Nevada, Trump complained again about what he said were signs of voter fraud.
“Folks, it’s a rigged system, and we are going to beat it,” he said.
Trump claimed that Latino voters who support Clinton had been bussed in and allowed to vote past the time the polls were to remain open in early voting in the state.
Meanwhile, Clinton holds a modest lead over Trump in the latest Washington Post-ABC Tracking Poll released on Sunday.
In a Post-ABC poll released two days before, Clinton had led Trump by 47 per cent to 44 per cent.
Clinton had an advantage in affirmative support, the poll said, with 55 per cent of backers saying they are mainly supporting her, compared with 43 per cent of Trump voters.
More Trump voters say they “mainly oppose Clinton”.
As early voting winds down, a spike in Latino turnout across the country appears to be giving Clinton an edge in battleground states.
The final polls are trickling in and Clinton is retaining a modest lead nationally.
Similarly, 44 per cent of likely voters support Clinton and 40 per cent back Trump, according to a new NBC News/WSJ national poll released on Sunday.
Clinton holds big leads with women and minority voters, while men, white voters and senior citizens buttress Trump’s support.
The Democratic candidate is also doing better with those who have already cast their ballots, but the Republican candidate holds a lead among voters who plan to do so on election day.
Americans will vote for a new president on Tuesday but about 37 million voters have already chosen who they want to rule the country in early voting.
The new poll came alongside a brief moment of drama in the final days of campaigning
Both Clinton and Trump have concentrated their attention to battleground states that are the determinants of who wins the election.
States like Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia have the power to swing the election but so far, neither Trump nor Clinton has a significant lead in these crucial states.
Florida has 29 Electoral College and if Clinton wins, Trump would have to win almost all every other swing state to be elected president.
Ohio has 18 Electoral College votes and Trump needs to win Ohio if he is to have any chance.
North Carolina has 15 and Obama won the state in 2008 but lost to Republican in 2012, but polls are split on how the state would fall.
Virginia has 13 Electoral College votes and it had voted 10 consecutive Republican presidents before Obama won it in 2008 and 2012, but polls show that it is leaning towards Clinton.
Arizona has 11 Electoral College votes and Trump needs to win it if he is to claim the White House.
Currently, Clinton’s electoral vote total is at 268 when all the states that are solidly or leaning in her direction are added up against Trump’s 204.
That leaves six remaining battleground contests worth a total of 66 electoral votes in Arizona, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and the second congressional district in and around Omaha, Nebraska.
