Election 1 day away: Trump to blitz 4 key states as Biden hones in on Pennsylvania

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As the presidential race draws to a close, President Trump is slated to make a last-minute appeal to voters in four battleground states with a dizzying number of campaign rallies while his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, focuses heavily on Pennsylvania.   

After a campaign stop in Cleveland, Ohio, Biden will head to Pennsylvania for a canvassing event in Beaver County with union members and labor leaders; a drive-in rally in Pittsburgh to galvanize Black voters; and another drive-in event in Pittsburgh with Lady Gaga.

His running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, will also be stumping across the state, with several planned campaign events culminating in a drive-in rally with John Legend in Philadelphia. 

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Both campaigns see Pennsylvania as crucial to securing the necessary 270 electoral votes to win the White House. Trump narrowly won the state in 2016 against Hillary Clinton ‒ part of the "blue wall" that he knocked down ‒ but polls consistently show Biden leading in the Keystone State. 

A new poll released Monday by Monmouth University found Biden with a seven percentage point lead over Trump in Pennsylvania in a high-turnout scenario, and a five percentage point lead in a low-turnout scenario.

But the Trump campaign views Pennsylvania as the most likely to flip red on Nov. 3, unlike Michigan and Wisconsin, where Biden holds a more comfortable lead. The president plans to campaign in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan twice. Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, will hold rallies in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday shows Biden with a comfortable 10 percentage point lead nationally, but the race is much tighter in the key swing states candidates need to win to reach 270 electoral votes. 

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Still, a New York Times and Siena College poll published this week found Biden holds a clear advantage over Trump in four of the most critical battleground states, boosted by support from voters who did not participate in the 2016 election. According to the poll, Biden is ahead of Trump in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as Arizona and Florida — states that Trump won four years ago. 

With 29 delegates up for grabs, Florida is one of the biggest prizes on Election Day. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 1.2 percentage points in Florida four years ago; if he loses it on Tuesday, his path to reelection would be considerably more difficult.

More than 94 million Americans have already cast their ballots in the lead-up to the Nov. 3 election, representing more than two-thirds of total voter turnout in the 2016 election, according to data provided by the University of Florida's Election Project.

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Biden has previously expressed confidence in his odds of winning Wisconsin and Michigan and has also ventured into traditionally red states in the campaign's final weeks with trips to Iowa and Georgia. 

“I am not overconfident about anything,” Biden told reporters one week ago. “I just want to make sure we can earn every vote possible.”

In the final leg of the campaign, Biden is seeking to frame the battle for the White House as a referendum on Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic. The candidate, following a virtual briefing from public health officials, delivered a speech from Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday addressing the virus-induced crisis. 

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"Even if I win, it's going to take a lot of hard work to end this pandemic. I'm not running on the false promise of being to end this pandemic by flipping a switch," Biden said.“I do promise this: We will start on day one doing the right things.”

The virus has infected more than 9 million Americans and killed 231,003, the most in the world.