Americans head to the polls today after months of fierce campaigning to vote in a historic presidential election that is too close to call. Will Kamala Harris or Donald Trump win the race to the White House?
Tuesday 5 November 2024 09:38, UK
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By Gemma Peplow, culture and entertainment reporter
From Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen to Eminem, Cardi B and even a Brat endorsement courtesy of British star Charli XCX – Kamala Harris has not been short of A-list support.
But Taylor Swift, the one-woman pop phenomenon who has smashed world tour records and shifted national economies, is the star most likely to have any sort of impact.
The 34-year-old publicly confirmed her support for Ms Harris in September, writing on social media: “I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
Despite much speculation about a possible public appearance alongside Ms Harris on the eve of polling day, in the end, Swift was instead seen cheering on her NFL star boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his Kansas City Chiefs team as they took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Kansas City.
Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga were among the big names at the Democrat’s final rally. It is more than likely she would have wanted Swift there. Perhaps the star did not want to dominate headlines on this huge day for her country. America could be about to see its first female president – Swift is not the story here. Or maybe not yet.
In a post about her latest Eras shows, she did include a final “friendly but extremely important” reminder to her 283m+ fans on Instagram, that this is their “last chance to vote”.
Millions of Swifties around the world assembled for her tour – can the star have the same effect on the polls?
It’s easy to see why politicians are keen to have her star power in their corner, especially to get their message across to younger voters.
But when it comes to politics, celebrity endorsements don’t have as much effect as some might think.
According to research published by YouGov last week, about one in 10 Americans (11%) say a celebrity has ever caused them to reconsider their stance on a political issue, while 7% say they have supported a political candidate because of a celebrity endorsement.
In fact, celebrities weighing in on politics can even have the opposite effect to the desired outcome, their poll found, with more than half (51%) saying a star’s political position had led them to think less of them.
Watch: Swiftie family divided over election
Unsurprisingly, Republicans – who tend to get fewer A-list endorsements than the Democrats – are especially likely to think celebs should stay out of it.
On the other hand, this year’s race for the White House is neck-and-neck, slated as the tightest since at least 2000. And it doesn’t matter who wins the popular vote. In the US, it’s all about the Electoral College, which means the outcome will be determined by seven key swing states – including Pennsylvania, where Swift grew up.
In 2020, Joe Biden won the state by 81,660 votes. In Georgia, another swing state, there were fewer than 12,000 votes between Mr Biden and Donald Trump. In Arizona, the difference was even lower: 10,457.
The majority of the millions of voters won’t be paying attention to what the celebrities have to say, even celebrities with as much clout as Swift. And while performances and speeches by glamorous stars at rallies are loved by the crowds attending, and create viral moments on social media, the majority of their fans planning to vote would likely be ticking the box for the Democrats anyway – especially Swifties, if polls on their political affiliations are anything to go by.
But. If the star can mobilise even a few thousand new or undecided voters in the states that matter, she could potentially help move the dial.
When she confirmed her support for Ms Harris in September, she also shared a link to a voting information site – and in the 24 hours the link was live, almost 406,000 people clicked through to find out more. While not all of these clicks will necessarily translate to votes, it shows how many people are listening.
If Ms Harris wins, when the numbers are analysed, it might well turn out that Swift was part of the story.
We’ve already had “Swiftonomics”. Kamala Harris will be hoping the singer’s power now extends to helping determine the next president of the United States, too.
Multibillionaire Elon Musk has become one of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters during the election.
He first crashed onto the campaign scene at a rally last month in Butler, Pennsylvania – the site of an assassination attempt against the former president in July.
Since then, Musk has been using his X platform to voice his support for Mr Trump and criticise Kamala Harris.
Our US correspondent Mark Stone explains the Tesla boss’s political journey and what could be behind it…
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris made their final pitches to voters late last night after months of rallies, interviews, attack ads and events.
So what will they be up to as they await the result of the vote?
Ms Harris is set to spend today in Washington DC taking part in radio interviews, CNN reports.
She will then hold her election night watch party at her alma mater Howard University in Washington tonight.
An official with knowledge of her plans said she has also invited top donors to an election briefing tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump is expected to hold an election night watch party in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A woman with a pushchair strolls past the yellow house on a suburban street in Berkeley, California. The building is now a Montessori school but in the early 1960s the bottom floor was occupied by a nursery. Stairs on the left-hand side lead to a top-floor apartment.
That’s where the little girl with pigtails and a big smile lived with her mother and younger sister. Today she could become the first female president of the United States.
Kamala Harris is on the brink of smashing through the ultimate glass ceiling but she has been making history in California for decades. As a child she lived through school desegregation, and later became an insurgent into San Francisco high society.
Before turning 40, she assumed the office of District Attorney, the city’s chief legal officer. Later, she became the first woman, and first black person, to be elected Attorney General in California, the state’s so-called “top cop”.
That is before you consider her dizzying ascent in Washington DC, from the senate to vice president and now the race to be commander in chief.
Her rise, while unlikely, has been very much by her design, rather than any accident.
Read the full story here:
It’s still the middle of the night in the US, with election day only just beginning.
But a question many are asking after months of campaigning – when will we know who’s won the race for the White House?
The majority of voting takes place today, with polls usually closing at 8pm in the different US time zones before the count begins. There are also postal ballots and early voting from certain states to take into account.
Our US correspondent James Matthews explains what we can expect tonight and into tomorrow…
On the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, made famous by the Rocky Balboa film franchise, Kamala Harris delivered a blockbuster finish to her campaign.
Harris took to the stage after 11pm, raised her fist into the night sky to the cheers of a 30,000 strong crowd.
On the eve of an election for the ages, she repeated a closing message of hope and unity.
“We finish as we started,” she said, “with optimism, with joy, knowing we the people have the power to shape our future and confront any challenge when we do it together.”
The vice president was led to the speaker’s lectern by Oprah Winfrey, who chose a darker final message, warning that depending on the outcome Americans may not “ever cast a ballot again”.
It was a star-studded evening with an eye-catching stage filled by Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin and Fat Joe, a rapper of Puerto Rican descent who appealed to other Latinos to steer the country away from Donald Trump.
But will the excitement translate to the ballot box? Ryan Richardson, a young woman from Philadelphia, believes so.
“I think Kamala Harris has done more than any person could humanly imagine someone doing in the last 120 odd days,” she says.
“If this is not a moment for the history books, I don’t know what is. The way that she has galvanised voters, across age, across race, across socio-economic spectrum and brought us all to Philadelphia tonight, on the cusp of making history, is truly amazing.”
Harris suggested she had picked the Philadelphia landmark with her own story in mind, calling the steps made famous by Rocky films, “a tribute to those who start as the underdog and climb to victory”.
The Harris team believe she is no longer the underdog, buoyed by early voting data, which suggests women were turning out in big numbers. Polling shows women are backing Harris by a considerable margin.
Outside Harris’s earlier rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where voters are divided between her and Trump, a group of a dozen women chanted her name. “Kam-a-la,” they sang, and danced.
Pat Hillbish was a registered Republican but says she can’t contemplate voting for Trump.
“I’m voting for Kamala,” she said, “because she stands for everything right – truth and justice. And I’m so sick of the hatred.”
In the first election since Roe v Wade was overturned and the constitutional right to choose was removed, reproductive rights is a motivating factor for some voters.
“I certainly hope women turn out to vote for Harris,” said Jean Gerding. “I also hope it’s men, who realise that the government really should not play a part in our decision about abortion.”
Harris did not mention Donald Trump by name at her final rally. She had earlier referred to him only as “the other guy”.
She signed off the shortest of presidential campaigns in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the United States. In the coming hours, the people of this city will determine where the country goes next.
By Shannon Pettypiece, NBC News senior policy reporter
A Trump campaign ad declaring America can make a comeback under the former president relies on images taken overseas.
The ad and the links to the overseas images were shared with NBC News by a strategist who opposes Mr Trump.
In a section saying that Americans’ “values were labelled shameful”, the ad shows an image inside a German church from 2012, according to Getty Images, which sells the photo.
As the speaker begins the line, “And we’re wondering if America can make a comeback,” the ad shows a video clip from Thailand of a model dressed as a construction worker in 2021, according to Getty Images.
Another section saying Americans have “surrendered” their paychecks shows a grocery cart in a car park in Thailand in 2020, according to the information on istockphoto.com where that clip is available for sale.
By Ben Bloch, political reporter
As the saying goes, “when America sneezes, the world catches a cold”. The US presidential election outcome will not just affect Americans, but people around the world.
Among the British public, there is a clear preference for Kamala Harris to win.
Polling conducted by YouGov last month shows that 64% of British adults favour the incumbent vice president, while just 18% want to see the return of Donald Trump.
And the same poll shows that 76% of British voters think who wins the US election matters “a lot” or “a fair amount”, while just 17% think it doesn’t matter much or at all.
So let’s take a deep dive into what a Trump or Harris presidency would mean really for the UK…
Can the influence of celebrities sway voters when it comes to the US election?
With many of the biggest music and movie stars in the world backing her, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris will certainly be hoping so.
Democrats have long enjoyed a celebrity advantage, which has only grown during Republican Donald Trump’s rise in politics. However, as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign showed, star power is not always enough.
Who is endorsing who?
According to a recent YouGov poll, about one in 10 Americans (11%) say a celebrity has ever caused them to reconsider their stance on a political issue, while 7% say they have supported a political candidate because of a celebrity endorsement.
As the polls open in the 2024 US presidential election approaches, here are the stars backing each of the two candidates…
Here’s everything you need to know as election day dawns – from who the candidates are to how votes are cast and an explanation of how the Electoral College works.
Plus: why is it always on a Tuesday?
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