Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
AMERICAN USA
Violence fears as polls tension rises
WITH less than 24 hours to go, the race for the White House has tightened as the States gears up for possible “civil war”.
As tensions increase ahead of tomorrow’s ballot, cities spent yesterday boarding up shops and businesses amid fears armed groups will take to the streets in a national wave of violence.
Some Americans have even travelled to secret locations to ride out election week.
Since Donald Trump came to power, America has become increasingly divided and violence has increased under his leadership.
Yet during his inauguration in January 2017 Trump painted a bleak picture of the country he inherited from Barack Obama and vowed to stop crime soaring and businesses going bust.
“This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,” Trump said on the steps of the Capitol. Yesterday he and Joe Biden spent the day blitzing America in a final push for votes.
The President held five rallies in Michigan,
Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida while Biden concentrated on Philadelphia.
Today Trump, whose wife Melania has also been on the campaign trail, is expected to visit the critical states of Michigan and Wisconsin while both he and Biden will visit Pennsylvania.
Polls show Biden’s once-comfortable lead reducing in some States. Key battlegrounds of Arizona and North Carolina have tightened, but Obama’s former deputy is still ahead in Upper Midwest states Michigan and Wisconsin.
All four states were won by Trump in 2016, and a loss tomorrow in any of them would make his narrow path to victory even more difficult.
Arizona polls show Biden at 50% support to Trump’s 46%. In Wisconsin, the Democrat has 52% behind him to the President’s 44%.
Milwaukee resident Pat Finn, 44, told the Mirror that in 2016 there was apathy about voting among people in the city, but this year is “entirely different”. He said: “Four years ago people in Wisconsin were so disinterested. Many chose not to vote, but this time around it is entirely different. People are far more engaged and know every single vote is needed.
“Recent months have seen many cities go up in flames and come tomorrow there are very genuine fears it will descend into violence.
“It’s difficult to think of a time America has been so divided. The whole country is triggered.”
In Pennsylvania, the ex-vice President holds a slight lead over Trump and the two candidates are in a virtual dead heat in Florida. If he were