Three days from the US elections: What you need to know

Donald Trump and Joe Biden barnstorm the US this weekend in the final days of the presidential election campaign.

Trump and Biden will focus on key battleground states in the final three days of the US presidential elections campaign [Rebecca Blackwell/AP]

President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden continue making their closing pitches to voters across the United States in the final three days of the 2020 presidential election campaign.

Trump’s next few days on the trail feature 14 rallies across eight different battleground states, including four events on Saturday in Pennsylvania.

Biden will share a stage with former President Barack Obama during two campaign events in the key state of Michigan on Saturday. They will be joined by singer Stevie Wonder at their second event, held in Detroit.

More than 89.5 million Americans have already cast their ballots either by mail – a process expanded in many areas due to the COVID-19 pandemic – or during in-person early voting.

That number represents 65 percent of the total number of votes cast in the 2016 presidential election. Nearly 60 percent of voting-eligible Americans have participated in recent presidential elections, though some are predicting that the number will rise this year.

Early voting numbers in both Hawaii and Texas are higher than their total overall voter turnout in 2016.

Here is what the electoral map looks like at the moment:

INTERACTIVE-Electoral College forecasts-geographic
[Alia Chughtai/Al Jazeera]

Where the candidates are today:

Trump will hold rallies in Bucks County, Reading, Butler, and Montoursville, Pennsylvania.

Biden campaigns with Barack Obama in Flint and Detroit, Michigan.

Vice President Mike Pence will visit North Carolina, while Kamala Harris campaigns in Florida.

Poll position

Biden continues to hold a lead among likely voters nationally, according to a Fox News poll released on Friday. He has a 52-44 percent advantage over Trump, although that is down two points from a Fox News poll a few weeks earlier.

Biden leads among independent voters with 54 percent support compared to Trump’s 32 percent. Trump won independents by four points over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, according to exit polls.

Biden also has a significant advantage when it comes to favourability. The poll says 55 percent of voters view him favourably compared with 44 percent for Trump.

Forty-six percent of respondents say they approve of the job Trump has done as president, but of the 54 percent who disapprove, almost half – 46 percent – strongly disapprove of his job performance.

The poll’s margin of error is +/- 2.5 percentage points.

In case you missed it

Trump’s promises: Al Jazeera takes a look at whether Trump has kept his biggest policy promises from his 2016 campaign.

Biden’s evolving views: The Democratic candidate has been on the national political scene for 48 years and his views on some key issues have changed over that time.

House race to watch: “Proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer takes on veteran Congresswoman Lois Frankel in Florida.

Hunter Biden: Al Jazeera explains what you need to know about the recent controversy surrounding Joe Biden’s son.

Source: Al Jazeera