Can you ‘undo’ political polarization? Left and right might be closer than we think, study finds

University of California, Berkeley, research shows people are committed to protecting democratic institutions despite differences

You know that uncle whose political takes threaten to turn family gatherings into food fights? Don’t decline his Thanksgiving invitation just yet. When it comes to support for democracy, left and right in America are much closer than you might think.

As a historic US election approaches, both sides see each other as working to upend democracy. But it’s our assumptions about our political opponents – rather than their actual views – that drive polarization, according to new research. And if Democrats want to prove to voters on the fence that they’re acting in good faith, they might want to consider a surprising “grand gesture”.

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Harris grabs unexpected last-minute lead over Trump in Iowa poll

In shocking result that could reshape the race, ex-president falls three points behind in a state he won in 2016 and 2020

A poll in Iowa that has unexpectedly put Kamala Harris ahead of Donald Trump in what was previously expected to be a safe state for the Republicans has sent shockwaves through America’s poll-watchers.

The Selzer poll carried out for the Des Moines Register newspaper showed Harris ahead of her Republican rival by three points.

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Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declines to endorse Kamala Harris

The Palestinian American ‘squad’ member has been critical of Harris and the Democratic party’s inaction on Gaza

Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declined to endorse Kamala Harris at a union rally in Detroit, where the war in Gaza is the top issue for the largest block of Arab American voters in the country.

Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, is the only one of the so-called leftist “Squad” that has not endorsed the Democrat candidate. The other three members – Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York – endorsed Harris in July.

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US politics live: Women’s marches hit the streets in support of Harris as both candidates target east coast – as it happened

Harris leading Trump in new Iowa poll in startling reversal, pulling ahead of Trump 47% to 44%

Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump head to North Carolina on Saturday to try to clinch support in the south-eastern battleground state just three days before Tuesday’s US presidential election.

It will be the fourth day in a row that vice-president Harris and former president Trump visit the same state on the same day, underlining the critical importance of the seven states likely to decide the race, which opinion polls show to be on a knife’s edge, Reuters reported.

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Supreme court rejects Republican bid to throw out thousands of Pennsylvania ballots; Harris says Trump’s Cheney remarks ‘disqualifying’ – live

Justices rule swing state can count provisional ballots of voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected; Harris condemns Republican nominee’s gun remarks

Joe Biden has released the following statement on the latest job report:

In October, unemployment was unchanged at 4.1%, but the devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and new strike activity, lowered job growth. Job growth is expected to rebound in November as our hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts continue. In addition, I want to congratulate the leadership of the Machinists and Boeing for negotiating a new contract proposal that will be voted on by union members. Machinists at Boeing have sacrificed over the years and deserve a strong contract.

America’s economy remains strong, with 16m jobs created since I took office, including an average 180,000 jobs created each month over the last year – more than the year before the pandemic. We have the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years, our economy has grown more than any presidential term this century, incomes are up $4,000 over prices, and inflation has fallen nearly to its 2% target.

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How will the outcome of the US election affect Australia, Aukus and our region?

Australia’s future is closely tied to the future occupant of the White House. What impacts could a Kamala Harris or Donald Trump presidency have?

More people have gone to a ballot box in 2024 than in any other year in human history. Billions have cast votes across scores of countries, including some of the largest, most powerful democracies on Earth.

But America’s remains the world’s global election, the most forensically examined, the most consequential all over the world. America matters.

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Jennifer Lopez campaigns with Harris in Las Vegas – as it happened

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A lot of money has been spent on this year’s elections.

Only 150 billionaire families have contributed $1.9bn in support of presidential and congressional candidates, according to a new report from Americans for Tax Fairness.

Of this giant figure 72% went to support Republicans compared with the 22% spent on Democrats.

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Harris hails first-time and gen Z voters at Wisconsin rally: ‘I’m so proud of you’

Artists including Remi Wolf, Gracie Abrams and Mumford & Sons join VP at rally briefly interrupted by Gaza protesters

Kamala Harris warned a crowd that time was running out at a get-out-the-vote event in Madison, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, joined by a lineup of folk and pop musicians including Remi Wolf, Gracie Abrams and Mumford & Sons.

“We have six days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime,” the vice-president and Democratic nominee told the crowd, denouncing Donald Trump and issuing a dire warning about the consequences of a second Trump presidency.

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Biden’s ‘garbage’ comments gaffe hastens Harris’s slow-mo breakup with president

Harris faces conundrum of showing deference to president while distancing herself after his ‘garbage’ comments

The delicate dance by Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign to simultaneously show deference to Joe Biden, separate herself from his presidency and thwart his ambition to campaign for her has reached a critical juncture as the 2024 election approaches its climax.

The steps of the dance, which has been ongoing since Harris assumed the Democratic party nomination in August and involves efforts to shield the 81-year-old president’s ego and feelings, became even more leaden overnight on Tuesday after Biden appeared to call supporters of Donald Trump “garbage”.

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Biden says he meant to condemn comedian, not Trump supporters, in ‘garbage’ comments

Edited video clip of president’s remarks suggests he insulted Trump backers, but his wording is unclear

Joe Biden put out a statement that he had “meant to say” earlier on Tuesday that a pro-Trump comedian’s “hateful rhetoric” about Puerto Rico was “garbage”. But in an edited video clip already widely circulating on social media Tuesday evening, a phrase that came out of Biden’s mouth was “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters”.

Republican politicians and rightwing media outlets quickly picked up the clip to argue that Biden had called Trump’s supporters garbage, comparing his remarks with Hillary Clinton’s labeling of half of Trump supporters as belonging in “a basket of deplorables” in 2016, a comment that is widely seen as undermining her campaign.

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Supreme court rejects RFK Jr plea to remove name from battleground ballots

Kennedy, who suspended campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, will remain on ballot in Michigan and Wisconsin

The supreme court on Tuesday rejected an emergency appeal to remove Robert F Kennedy Jr from presidential ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Kennedy wanted to remove himself from the ballot in the two crucial swing states after dropping his independent bid and endorsing Donald Trump. He argued that keeping him on violated his first amendment rights by wrongly implying he still wanted to be elected president.

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Kamala Harris delivers ‘closing argument’ in Washington – as it happened

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Most Americans are prepared to accept the election results as legitimate, according to a new ABC/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

The poll, conducted between 18 October to 22, 2024, states 83% of Americans surveyed and 86% of registered voters surveyed are prepared to accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate, regardless of which candidate they support.

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Kamala Harris calls for a ‘new generation of leadership’ in Washington speech

Vice-president strikes hopeful tone in remarks delivered from site of Trump’s speech before deadly January 6 attack

With the White House illuminated behind her, Kamala Harris asked the vanishing slice of undecided Americans to elect a “new generation of leadership”, likening Donald Trump to a “petty tyrant” who had stood in the very same spot nearly four years ago and, in a last-gasp effort to cling to power, helped incite the mob that stormed the US Capitol.

The choice between her and Trump in the deadlocked presidential contest was “about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division”, Harris said, from the Ellipse near the White House’s South Lawn, where tens of thousands of supporters gathered one week before the final votes of the 2024 election are cast.

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US election live: outcry grows over ‘hateful’ Trump rally remarks; Harris says Puerto Ricans ‘deserve better’

Congressional Hispanic caucus hits out at ‘shameful’ rhetoric; vice-president releases ad condemning Trump and comedian’s remarks

Here’s our story of the resignation of Washington Post columnist Michele Norris, the latest high profile writer to leave the newspaper in protest at its decision not to endorse a candidate in next week’s presidential election.

Norris says the Post’s non-call was a “terrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s own longstanding standard of regularly endorsing candidates since 1976”.

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Therapy-speak and 80s hairstyles: will Harris’s Brené Brown sit-down swing white female voters?

The Democrat’s cozy chat with the vulnerability expert was largely apolitical – which could play well with a key demographic

In the quest to win over white female voters – 53% of whom showed up for Donald Trump in 2020 – Kamala Harris made her case on a podcast hosted by one of their beloved avatars, the vulnerability researcher Brené Brown. The episode, released on Monday, was a mostly fluffy discussion about leadership, trauma and the notion of voting as agency in an uncontrollable news cycle.

Brown, a University of Houston professor and bestselling author who has spent two decades studying social sciences, became an overnight celebrity after giving a 2010 Ted Talk called “the power of vulnerability”. One could argue the talk, which birthed Brown’s Oprah-approved speaking empire, also spawned our culture’s current obsession with therapy-speak.

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Trump repeats ‘enemy from within’ rhetoric at Madison Square Garden rally as speakers give racist remarks – live

Tucker Carlson among speakers to take jabs at Harris, Puerto Rico and trans people after vice-president rallies in Philadelphia

Following her appearance at a predominantly Black church in Philadelphia this morning, Kamala Harris has just visited Philly Cuts, a barbershop not far from the west Philadelphia church.

From a barbershop chair, Harris answered questions from several young Black men, including about student loan debt, in a conversation moderated by Pennsylvania state representative Jordan Harris.

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Bad Bunny supports Kamala Harris and shares campaign video on Puerto Rico

Artist shares video with over 45 million Instagram followers as Harris and Trump work to gain ground with Latino voters

The international reggaeton star Bad Bunny is throwing his support behind Kamala Harris in the US presidential race, sharing a video of the Democratic presidential nominee to his more than 45 million followers on Instagram.

Bad Bunny, whose official name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is one of the most famous artists of the moment. His support could be a boost for the Harris campaign as it tries to bolster its support with Latino and Puerto Rican voters.

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Harris campaigns in Philadelphia with promise to win presidential election

Vice-president tells supporters she will win seemingly deadlocked race with just nine days left before election day

Kamala Harris addressed a boisterous crowd in North Philadelphia on Sunday, promising supporters that she would win a seemingly deadlocked presidential race with just nine days left before election day.

“Nine days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and we know this is going to be a tight race until the very end,” the vice-president told hundreds of supporters. “And make no mistake: we will win.”

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Michelle Obama blasts Trump for ‘gross incompetence’ at Harris’s Michigan rally

At Kalamazoo event, former first lady and vice-president argue Trump has no credibility on women’s issues

Michelle Obama laced into Donald Trump in a searing speech in Michigan on Saturday, accusing the former president of “gross incompetence” and having an “amoral character” while challenging hesitant Americans to choose Kamala Harris for US president.

“By every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready,” the former first lady told a rapt audience in Kalamazoo. “The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?”

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Michelle Obama introduces Kamala Harris at Michigan rally; across state, Trump joined by Arab and Muslim leaders – as it happened

Obama urges crowd to ‘turn the page on the ugliness’ as Michigan voters pledge support for Trump because ‘he promised to end war’. This blog is now closed.

At his rally in Novi, Donald Trump was joined on stage by leaders of the state’s Arab and Muslim communities.

“We as Muslims stand with President Trump because he promises peace. He promises peace, not war. We are supporting Donald Trump because he promised to end war in the Middle East and Ukraine,” one member of the coalition said. “We support Donald J Trump for his commitment to promoting family values and protected our children well-being, especially when it comes to curriculums and schools.”

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