: vice president Kamala Harris or former president Donald Trump.
So far, the debate has been heated and ugly between Republican candidate Trump and both Harris and Biden, the latter of whom only dropped out as the Democratic nominee in late July.
In the lead-up to the vote, here are all your questions answered.
Kamala Harris was born in 1964 and, after graduating from law school, began a long career as a prosecutor, eventually becoming California’s attorney-general in 2011.
She launched a successful campaign for the US Senate in 2016 but failed to attract support during a short-lived tilt for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
However, and, after his , Harris became the first African American and Asian person to serve as US vice president.
Donald Trump was born in 1946 to a New York real estate tycoon and joined his father’s business as soon as he graduated college, becoming the company’s president in 1971.
His big media break came in 2004 with the reality TV show The Apprentice, which helped solidify his image as a savvy, tough businessman and contributed greatly to his public persona.
Trump’s unorthodox political approach and ability to attract media attention helped him secure the Republican nomination and ultimately led to
His push to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and have both been controversial.
Trump was the first president to be impeached twice but both times he was acquitted by the Senate. Since leaving the presidency, Trump has faced 91 felony charges across four criminal cases and is the .
Minnesota governor Tim Walz is a US Army National Guard veteran and former schoolteacher elected to the US House of Representatives in 2006.
The 60-year-old Walz is a self-proclaimed champion of “progressive values”, and policies he has endorsed as governor have included expanding paid leave and free school meals.
Republican senator for Ohio JD Vance rose to prominence after releasing a 2016 memoir focusing on his upbringing in Middletown, Ohio.
He was a critic of Donald Trump in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election but began to recant his former statements about Trump while running for the US Senate in 2021.
He is , believing abortion laws should be set by the states.
US President Joe Biden was the Democrats’ 2024 presidential candidate until he dropped out on 21 July, several weeks after a against Trump.
The 81-year-old’s performance in the debate sparked concerns about his mental acuity and resulted in calls from party leaders and donors to exit the race.
After dropping out and endorsing Harris — who until then was his running mate — Biden said would have been too much of a distraction to his campaign.
Seven swing states have been Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Georgia.
Both candidates have roughly similar levels of support among voters in these states, meaning they could lean either way come election day.
Source: SBS News
In the 2024 election, some issues are more important in certain swing states; for example, the US administration’s handling of the conflict in Gaza among Michigan’s large Arab-American population.
However, a key factor that unites the swing states in this electoral cycle is that they all have large populations in both urban and rural areas, which creates a strong political divide, .
In 2016, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton received almost 3 million more votes than Donald Trump — nonetheless, the latter became president.
That’s because US presidential elections aren’t decided by the popular vote, but by the ‘Electoral College’ — a weighted system in which 270 of 538 electoral votes are required to win.
States each have the same number of electoral votes as they have representatives and senators — electoral votes do not correspond to population size in most states.
The US general election will be held on 5 November 2024, a Tuesday. However, almost all states in the US allow citizens to vote early, meaning millions of Americans will have already cast their vote before election day.
In most states, mail ballots are counted on election day, either when the polls open or after they close. Regardless of when the count starts, results cannot be disclosed until after the polls close on election day.
Polling places open in most states close by around 7-8pm (local time). That means it’ll be the afternoon of 6 November (AEST) when polls close and results start coming in.
The winner of the presidential election is usually declared on election night or the next morning, but not always. In 2020, it took four days before most broadcasters projected .
People can vote in a US federal election if they’re US citizens – including citizens living outside of the US and dual citizens – who will be 18 or older by election day and have registered to vote.
Non-citizens, including permanent legal residents, cannot vote in federal or state elections in the US and there are heavy penalties for non-citizens who try to vote, including jail time, fines and deportation.
Harris has made reproductive rights and personal freedoms a rallying cry and backs a national law codifying access to safe abortion.
On foreign policy, Harris is expected to stick largely to Biden’s playbook on key issues such as Ukraine, China and Iran.
She has , saying the militant group must be “eliminated”, and remains committed to the US policy of arming Israel.
Her economic plans include tax cuts for most Americans, price gouging bans, more affordable housing and a new child tax credit as well as efforts to boost domestic manufacturing.
She has promised tougher immigration and fentanyl controls at the border. Her climate and energy positions are similar to those held by Biden,
On foreign policy, Trump has vowed to fundamentally alter the US’ relationship with NATO and .
On Trump has promised mass deportations, the expansion of a travel ban on people from certain countries and ending birthright —
Trump takes credit for the and said abortion laws should be left to states. Trump said he does not support banning birth control.
Trump has sought to distance himself from the despite the involvement of his former aides and running mate JD Vance.
On the economy, Trump has pledged to end taxes on tips and overtime, to lower corporate tax rates and to open federal lands to foreign companies and housing. He has also vowed to undo much of Biden’s climate change work.
Want more politics? You can stream poignant political documentaries in the SBS On Demand ‘Politics and Power’ collection and keep up with daily news bulletins in the .
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