© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Weather-Related Closings and Delays

Harris and Trump have made their closing arguments. Here's how they wound down their campaigns

Trump speaks at a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena on Monday in Pittsburgh; Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., on the same day.
Evan Vucci/AP; Susan Walsh/AP
Trump speaks at a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena on Monday in Pittsburgh; Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., on the same day.

Vice President Harris ended her campaign focused on persuasion, committing in ads and rally speeches to be a president for all Americans — even those who disagree with her.

Donald Trump closed his reelection effort, as ever, with a message focused on turning out his core supporters and lower-propensity voters. His rally speeches combined "low IQ" smears of his opponent with dire warnings about immigration and crime, as well as a celebration of economic tariffs. He often closed rallies with a message to supporters to get their "asses out to vote."

Both candidates spent the remaining days of their campaigns focused on appealing to voters in swing states. They've each been fighting to win over Latino voters in Pennsylvania, for example, and spent Monday, the last day of the campaign, in the Keystone State. About 580,000 Latino voters live in Pennsylvania.

The final NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows the state of the race essentially unchanged, a statistical dead-heat.

A regular part of Harris' rally speeches was a line noting that while Trump has an "enemies" list, she has a "to-do list" of policies to improve the lives of the American people, from expanding home-care options for seniors to measures aimed at increasing the stock of available housing.

And while Trump occasionally talks about policy during rallies, he devotes a lot of time to his perceived enemies. During a Halloween campaign event in Arizona, Trump called former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney a "radical war hawk" and said "let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face."

Copyright 2024 NPR

Eric McDaniel
Eric McDaniel edits the NPR Politics Podcast. He joined the program ahead of its 2019 relaunch as a daily podcast.