Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.
In today’s edition, political correspondent Allan Smith and senior White House correspondent Peter Nicholas they emptied their notebooks after spending the last two weeks on the ground on the Pennsylvania battlefield. Plus, senior political editor Mark Murray comments on our latest NBC News pre-election poll.
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Inside the final sprint on the biggest battlefield on the map
By Allan Smith and Peter Nicholas
PITTSBURGH – No state has played a bigger role in the presidential campaign leading up to Election Day than Pennsylvania.
It has been more of a backdrop for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris than any other state, and has been the top spender on behalf of both candidates. It’s where Trump is almost killed During the summer, just do it triumphant return months later. It’s where he belongs French fries are served He danced in front of the cameras for about 40 minutes while posing for photos at McDonald’s and at the rally. an impromptu music listening session.
That’s where Harris opened it running matehis is an economic platform and applied after applying disgruntled Republicans.
That’s where Harris and Trump hold just arguing. It serves as the proverbial red carpet for prominent surrogates.
During the final two weeks of the race, both the candidates and their running mates held 16 events in Pennsylvania — including Monday, which marked some of Harris and Trump’s final campaign rallies.
To get a feel for life in a key battleground state during this final stretch of the campaign, NBC News spent two weeks criss-crossing Pennsylvania, where it spoke to more than two dozen voters, officials and operatives working the races.
Apparently, most supporters of both sides do not express too much confidence that their side will win. Polling in the state shows an incredibly tight race — one that mirrors the results of the last two presidential elections here. Crossing through Pennsylvania, he sees a swing state of swing streets with neighbors side by side with signs for rival candidates. In some cases, there are even swing families – and talking about politics is forbidden.
Jennifer Mann of Philipsburg, a Trump supporter who attended the former president’s rally in State College late last month, said everyone here has friends or family in their inner circle who have different opinions about who should win.
“So it’s a really sticky situation,” he said, adding that these kinds of political conversations “don’t usually happen because it’s too risky.”
Read more from Allan and Peter →
🗺️ Elsewhere on the battlefield map: Natasha Korecki and Garrett Haake report that the Trump campaign remains uncertain about its prospects in North Carolina, where it has held the last two elections. More →
An NBC News poll highlights America’s divisions ahead of the election
By Mark Murray
Recent polls, incl National NBC News surveywe cannot say who will win the presidential elections. But they make one thing clear: the country remains deeply divided ahead of the election.
This is a deadlock in our query 49%-49% result Between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump among registered voters, and in other polls’ margin of error findings.
The NBC News poll’s huge gender gap (Harris leads men by 16 points, Trump by 18 points among women), its deep urban-rural divide (Harris leads by 22 points among urban voters, Trump leads by 33 points among rural voters), and its educational disadvantage lines (Harris leads by 12 points among white voters with a college degree and Trump by 30 points among white voters without a college degree).
It is also clear how each side sees the opposition. Only 4% of Democratic voters have a favorable opinion of Trump, compared to 93% who have an unfavorable opinion (-89 net rating). 5% of Republican voters have a favorable opinion of Harris, while 92% have an unfavorable opinion (-87 net rating).
“We’ve gotten further away from each other and picked our own corner,” said pollster Bill McInturff, the Republican half of the bipartisan duo that conducts the NBC News poll. “Each side is as close as they can be and they’re not budging or moving.”
And this division raises its head to one of the poll’s final questions: Do you expect the nation to become more united or divided with the election of the country’s next president?
Twenty-eight percent of voters said they were more united, and 60 percent were more divided.
📊 More from the NBC News survey: That’s more clear than ever after months of close voting and years of intense polarization: Small differences can make a difference in who wins an election, who gets to vote and who stays home. More →
📊 More from the NBC News survey: Beneath the surface of a tight race, a handful of voters who have wavered in recent weeks between Harris and Trump suggest the lesser of two evils could decide the election. More →
🗞️ The best stories of the day
- 🕖 Final countdown: The contrast between Trump’s free-ball style and Harris’ more traditional and safe approach was on full display in the final days of the campaign. More →
- 🕖 The final countdown, continued: Regardless of who wins the election, a staple of the American political landscape for nearly a decade is about to disappear: the Trump campaign rally. More →
- 👀 The Trump-RFK connection: Trump has not ruled out banning some vaccines if elected, telling NBC News that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to remove fluoride from water “sounds good to me.” More →
- 🗳️ Downvote: Bridget Bowman and Faith Wardwell lined up 5 key dynamics Watching the battle for control of the House and Senate and Sahil Kapoor lists 4 big things the new Congress will have to decide next year.
- ❓Montana Senate Update: In a new interview, Republican Tim Sheehy struggled to come clean about the 2015 incident that left him treated for a gunshot wound and fined at a national park. More →
- 📺 Wisconsin Senate Update: Republican Eric Hovde focused much of his closing message on attacking the financial career of Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s boyfriend and highlighting Baldwin’s same-sex relationship. More →
- Follow live updates from the campaign trail →
That’s all for the Policy Desk for now. If you have feedback – like it or not – email us politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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