Dems respond to Biden remarks; new polls

There’s less than a week until Election Day, and Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are focused on the crucial battlegrounds set to determine the race for the White House.

Trump is holding two rallies on Wednesday, one in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and another in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Harris will hold rallies in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Raleigh, North Carolina, before traveling to the University Of Wisconsin-Madison.

Both Trump and Harris are also turning to star power on Wednesday: Trump will be joined by former NFL star Brett Favre in Wisconsin, and Harris’ rally in the state will feature performances by Gracie Abrams, Mumford & Sons and other musicians.

Keep up with the USA TODAY Network’s live coverage from the campaign trail.

Walz dismisses concerns that Democrats’ recent rhetoric undercuts unity message

When pressed on “CBS Mornings” whether Democrats’ recent rhetoric, including Walz’s comparison of Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally to a Nazi event and Biden’s recent ‘garbage’ comment, are undercutting his campaign’s message of unity, Walz said, “certainly not.”

“I’ve represented rural areas. I’ve represented Democrats, Republicans, independent, same thing with the Vice President,” said Walz, claiming that Trump’s rhetoric has caused division in the country.

“President Biden was very clear that he’s speaking about the rhetoric we heard at that so it doesn’t undermine it,” Walz added. 

Biden’s comments come after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe said Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage” at the former president’s Madison Square Garden rally. Biden said during a zoom call with a nonprofit organization that the only “garbage” he saw “floating out there” were “his supporter’s,” though it was not clear at the time whether he was referring to Hinchcliffe or all of Trump’s supporters. Many Republicans interpreted it as the latter.

Walz also rebutted reports that Biden is being sidelined by the campaign.

“President Biden’s the president the United States. He’s running it. Vice President Harris is our candidate and will be the next president. And I think there’s two different positions there,” he said.

— Sudiksha Kochi

Josh Shapiro, top Harris surrogate, reacts to Biden’s ‘garbage’ remark

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a top surrogate for Harris, reacted to the fallout stemming from President Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment on Tuesday night that many Republicans claimed were directed towards Donald Trump’s fans

Biden’s comments come after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe said Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage” at the former president’s Madison Square Garden rally. Biden said during a zoom call with a nonprofit organization that the only “garbage” he saw “floating out there” were “his supporter’s,” though it was not clear at the time whether he was referring to Hinchcliffe or all of Trump’s supporters. Many Republicans interpreted it as the latter. Biden later posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he “referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage.”

“I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support,” Shapiro said on CNN’s “The Source” when asked about Biden’s remark.

The White House had attempted to clean up Biden’s comment, saying that he was referring to the rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as “garbage.” Pressed on whether he thinks Biden needs to come out and clarify his comment, Shapiro said that the president “will decide what he wants to say.”

“It’s certainly not words that I would choose and I think it’s important that we remain focused on the contrast between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and not attacking supporters of either candidate,” Shapiro said. 

— Sudiksha Kochi

Walz distances Harris campaign from Biden’s comment: ‘We want everyone’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, on Tuesday said Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is clear they want all Americans to be included in their campaign.

“Let’s be very clear: The vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this,” Walz said during an interview with ABC News.

The comments come after President Joe Biden came under fire for comments he made while denouncing an offensive joke made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico during a rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden over the weekend. 

Biden said: “The only garbage I see floating out there are his supporter’s – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American,” according to a transcript released by the White House. Biden and the White House later clarified that the president was talking about “the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by” Hinchcliffe specifically.

Walz said that Biden had “clarified his remark.”

– Rebecca Morin

After Harris gave her closing argument to voters last night in Washington, Democrats are launching their own final message this morning, calling Trump “unfit to lead.” The Democratic National Committee purchased full page advertisements in 25 local newspapers across this year’s seven battleground states.

In it, the words “Unhinged. Unstable. Unchecked.” appear above Trump’s mugshot, taken in Atlanta in August. 

“In the final week of the election, Democrats are not leaving any stone unturned, reminding voters in key battleground states that their vote means the difference between chaos and revenge with Donald Trump, or a New Way Forward with Vice President Harris,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. 

— Savannah Kuchar

 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump practiced the politics of avoidance Tuesday in Pennsylvania.

During an 80-minute rally in Allentown, Trump did not discuss allegations of racism stemming from his Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden, but did praise Latino and Puerto Rican voters.

Nor did he discuss at length Vice President Kamala Harris’ competing speech accusing him of being a threat to democracy and abetting the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.

Instead, he maintained his standard attacks on Harris and urged supporters to get out and vote. “We’re going to win the whole deal,” Trump said.

–David Jackson

When will election results be announced?

It is not clear exactly when the election results will be announced, as the timing depends on a variety of factors. Each state handles its elections differently, ranging from weeks-long early voting to strict voter ID laws.

But you can anticipate delays.

Some key swing states that Trump and  Harris are vying for, like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, aren’t permitted to start processing absentee and mail-in ballots until Election Day, which is expected to slow down the count.

— Sudiksha Kochi and Sam Woodward

Joe Biden denounced offensive jokes that podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe made about Puerto Rico during Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend, but the president also made a comment some prominent Republicans quickly called insulting to the former president’s supporters.  

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’” Biden said during a Zoom call Voto Latino, an organization encouraging Latino and Hispanic youth to become politically engaged. The president said the Puerto Rican people he knew in his home state of Delaware were “good, decent, honorable people.”

Biden added that the only “garbage” he saw “floating out there” were supporters, though it was unclear if he was referring just to Hinchcliffe or all of Trump’s fans. The White House released a transcript Tuesday night attempting to clarify that the president was referring to Hinchcliffe’s act.

–Karissa Waddick

 With the White House illuminated behind her, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris made a plea to undecided voters on Tuesday night to “turn the page” on Donald Trump, as she sought to rewrite the legacy of the Ellipse from the Republican’s Jan. 6 speech that preceded an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Harris’ address at times touched on the optimistic approach she said she’d bring to the presidency. Swinging away at Trump, the Democratic presidential candidate also blasted her Republican opponent for cultivating turmoil when he was in the White House.

–Rebecca Morin and Francesca Chambers

Less than a week before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are deadlocked in the battleground state of Michigan, according to an exclusive new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll.

Harris and Trump are tied, 47% to 47%, a statewide poll of 500 likely voters shows. The results are within the poll’s margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. The poll was conducted between Oct. 24 and 27.

In Kent County, Michigan, which has been a bellwether for the state, Harris leads Trump 47% to 46% among 300 likely voters, the poll shows. The results are within the poll’s 5.7 percentage point margin of error, meaning her lead could have happened by chance.

–Terry Collins

The 2024 presidential race is set to be neck-and-neck up to Election Day. In Real Clear Politics’ average of national polls, Trump leads Harris by 0.4 percentage points, well within the margin of error for all of the surveys included.

The Republican and Democratic nominees are also close in swing states. For example, Harris leads Trump by 0.5 percentage points in Michigan, according to Real Clear Politics’ average.

– Marina Pitofsky

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Donald Trump is splitting his day between two swing states: North Carolina and Wisconsin. In the afternoon, he’s holding a rally in Rocky Mount, a city in eastern North Carolina.

In the evening, he’ll travel to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and address supporters alongside former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.

– Marina Pitofsky

On Wednesday, the vice president will hold rallies in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Raleigh, North Carolina, before traveling to the University Of Wisconsin-Madison for a rally and concert with folk rock band Mumford & Sons, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network.

The get-out-the-vote rally in Wisconsin will also feature performances by Gracie Abrams, Remi Wolf, and The National’s Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner, according to the campaign.

– Alison Dirr, Terry Moseley