Just a day before the election, US President Donald Trump has dismissed opinion poll forecasts that claim he will lose the presidential race as he spoke to his supporters at Fayetteville, North Carolina.
"I watch these fake polls. We're going to win anyway. We are really looking good all over in the real polls", Trump said.
Both Trump and his opponent Democrat Joe Biden are spending the last day before the election attempting to boost turnout and their chances of winning the vote by holding a series of rallies in key battleground states. In a parallel pre-election rally, Biden urged Ohio citizens to cast their votes for him to get Trump to "pack his bags and go home".
"We're done with the chaos! We're done with the tweets, the anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility", the Democratic candidate said at the rally.
Biden Leads in Battleground State Polls Despite Drop in Support
Trump's remark comes as the final pre-election polls continue to predict victory for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, although the latter has lately seen a drop in the upper hand he had over the incumbent president in some states. Namely, the Monmouth University survey showed Biden outpacing Trump by 7% in the battleground state of Pennsylvania after having previously enjoyed an 11% lead over POTUS. The university admitted that bearing the margin of error in mind, either of the candidates could secure a decisive victory in the Keystone State.
The coronavirus pandemic and the resulting popularity of mail-in voting have only added to the uncertainty. While the Democrats support the voting method despite some votes arriving after 3 November, Trump has repeatedly claimed it could be used in voter fraud schemes. During his speech at his latest rally, POTUS vowed to spare no legal efforts to fight for discarding any mail-in votes that arrive after the Election Day.
With one day remaining before the Election Day, which, however, may not produce a winner right away, different polls are giving varying takes on which candidate is leading in which states. The latest Morning Consult poll showed Biden in the lead in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Arizona, while putting Trump ahead only in Ohio, where the Democratic nominee is currently trying to tip the scales in his favour at a rally. The FiveThirtyEight.com poll, however, had Trump in the lead in Iowa and Texas, in addition to Ohio, while showing Biden ahead in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.
The situation is no better in the national polls. While most of them, including the Morning Consult, predict a Biden victory on 3 November, with a roughly 8% lead over his opponent, the latest Trafalgar Group survey puts Trump ahead at 47.8% over Biden's 45.9%. Still, all of the polls show the difference in voter preferences more or less within the margin of error. The 2016 election showed that the margin should be taken into consideration, as Democrat Hillary Clinton surprisingly lost to Trump despite leading in the polls ahead of the Election Day. It is unclear, however, if the Republican candidate will be able to repeat this success in 2020.