Fears of civil unrest and violence have surged as shops around the country board up their windows, with the National Guard on high alert.

In Washington, the tension is palpable, with high fences and barriers erected around the White House to protect it from protesters, amid fears that the result could be bitterly contested.

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In a final frantic day of campaigning by both candidates, momentum was with the President as he narrowed Mr Biden’s lead in key battleground states, fuelling his hopes of a come-from-behind victory.

Mr Trump’s blitz of back-to-back rallies around the country on the final full day of campaigning came as he reduced Mr Biden’s lead in battleground states to an average of just 2.6 points, his best result since April.

Mr Trump, 74, is now within striking distance of Mr Biden in most of the swing states that will decide the election, including Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio and Georgia.

But the 77-year-old former vice-president remains the favourite to win, with a shrinking but still solid lead of 6.7 points nationally, compared with 3.2 points for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Mr Trump, who campaigned until past midnight, told huge rallies in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that the polls were wrong and he would easily defeat Mr Biden.

He said “hidden voters’’ would emerge in massive numbers on election day to vote him back into office.

“We are going to win the whole thing and we will send a signal like you’ve never seen before,’’ he said.

The spectre of a disputed result also hangs over the election, with Mr Trump warning of the danger of widespread voter fraud, especially if mail ballots are counted after election day.

The President has threatened to launch legal action to challenge states such as Pennsylvania that count mail-in ballots received several days after election day.

He implied that violence could erupt over the issue. “They made a very dangerous situation, and I mean physically dangerous,” he said.

Law-enforcement agencies across the country are braced for days or even weeks of possible protests and violence if Mr Trump disputes the results.

Mr Biden spent his last full day of campaigning in Pennsylvania, which Mr Trump won narrowly in 2016, and which both candidates see as the key state in the election. Mr Biden leads by just 2.5 points in the Keystone state, a similar lead to that of Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The former vice-president held a drive-in rally in Pittsburgh, where music legend Lady Gaga performed, while Mr Trump held a rally in the gritty working-class Pennsylvanian town of Scranton, where Mr Biden was born.

Mr Biden used his final campaign events to attack Mr Trump on his handling of the coronavirus, the economy, and on his divisive rhetoric.

He said the election outcome would change the course of America for generations. “Tomorrow we have an opportunity to put an end to a presidency that has divided this nation,” Mr Biden said.

“Tomorrow we can put an end to a president who has failed to protect this nation.

“What happens now, what happens tomorrow, is going to determine what this country looks like for a couple generations. That’s not a joke. I really genuinely believe that. There’s so damn much at stake.”

The election is being held as COVID-19 surges across the country, with record levels of new infections threatening to curtail America’s economic recovery.

Mr Trump used his final rallies to warn that a Biden administration would threaten American jobs, values and freedoms.

“This election comes down to a simple choice: do you want to be ruled by the arrogant, corrupt, ruthless and selfless political class, or do you want to be governed by the American people themselves,’’ Mr Trump told a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Mr Trump said that if Mr Biden won, “the radical left will gain power, they will collapse our economy and send our nation into depression. Biden will send your jobs overseas, destroy your suburbs (and) indoctrinate your children with anti-American lies.’’

The election promises to produce the largest vote in a generation, with almost 100 million mail-in and in-person ballots already cast before election day.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia

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Source: news.google.com